Runaway, A Harper's Tale
by MageOfRoses
Summary: Harper Apprentice Ampara becomes determined to choose another path than the one laid out for her and in doing so she runs into more trouble than she ever bargained for. She must find a way back to the world she desperately wanted to leave behind before it's too late. Constructive criticism is welcome on this piece.
1. Chapter 1: A Day In the Life

Runaway

_Preface/Disclaimer_: Most of the characters are original characters created by me and/or inspired by others, and everything else belongs to Anne McCaffrey for this chapter and all subsequent chapters. There is no beta so I apologize in advance for any minor errors. This story is set in an AU 10'th pass after a long interval on the western continent and therefore is not entirely canon, but is otherwise as canon as humanly possible. That being said please feel free to read and review.

**Chapter 1: _A Day In the Life_**

Ampara wondered idly how many times she could drum out the chorus to Moreta's Ride with her fingers before class ended.

_1…_

_2…_

_3…_

A sharp flick on her arm made her glance up annoyed. Tari was staring at her with something akin to murder in her eyes. Ampara held in an exasperated breath. Shards, the history of the western continent was so…so… _boring_. The only thing that anybody needed to know was that thread was back, and that the dwindling Weyr had gone back in time to bring forward dragonriders to deal with the sudden demand for able bodied weyr men and women. Ampara understood that it was tragic that lives had been lost on the jump ahead and that having dragonriders around was very important, but if she had to hear old Master Ptarlan lecture about it in that nasally voice one more time…

"Class dismissed," that was more like it.

Ampara nearly skipped outside. Freedom, finally!

She gave a big mock gusty sigh of relief as the afternoon sun washed over them. Tari smacked her in the back.

"Owww," Ampara narrowed her green eyes at Tari with a sour twist of her mouth.

"What is your problem?" though Tari didn't actually stamp her foot Ampara could have well imagined her doing so.

"_My_ problem? What's yours? Anyone who has to hear that stuff as much we do would be close to banging their heads on their desks until blood started dripping on the floor," Ampara quipped with a macabre sort of humor.

"We're Harpers! Keepers of Pernese history and tradition, singers of songs…"

"Blah, blah, blah, you sound like my mother," Ampara cut in and was glad to hear the lunch bells peal, hoping it would drown out Tari's annoying habit of trying to make her feel guilty about stuff or…well…_everything_.

She felt herself jerked to the side as Tari forced her to turn around with a hand on her shoulder, "Maybe you should listen to your mother more. You're never going to get anywhere if you keep up this…this…attitude!"

"Attitude? Me? Whatever gave you that idea?" Ampara hooked her thumb on her pocket and turned to go to lunch. She didn't need this wherry-henning.

Tari stomped her foot, oh so predictably, and followed after her friend. She huffed her breath in uncontrolled exasperation. Ampara was going to ruin her chances at a decent career at this rate. She really did love Ampara like a sister. They hadn't grown up together, but Ampara had shown her the real ropes of Harper Hall and it just seemed like Ampara didn't care anymore. How could someone with such a bright future care so little? Tari's deepest fear was that Ampara was just going to disappear one day and never come back only to try and prove something to everyone else. Then who knew what could happen to her on her own. Tari's mind had conjured up all sorts of terrible visions of Ampara's self-destructive doom.

"Listen to me. We're harpers, we have a responsibility, it's our duty to…"

"We're only 16 turns each Tari, I think it's going to be a little while before we have any effect on Pern at large."

"Well if you listened to your mother more you'd probably be on a fast track to walking the tables instead of stuck as an apprentice."

"Aaargh!" where was a wall to bang a head into when she needed it?

"Ampara!" fast walking toward the dining hall worked well enough as a distraction too.

"I don't care, I don't care, I can't hear you," Ampara sing-song-ed the 'hear you' easily out distancing her friend.

Who knew those motivational talks actually inspired people? Well…inspired was a strong word. Tari just nagged her as much as her mother now. Ampara ducked into the dining hall amongst a band of other Harper apprentices and raced for a seat at the most crowded part of the table. It was to her relief that Tari was forced to sit several benches down as the hall quickly filled up. Tari pinched her hard on the arm as she passed and to Ampara's credit there were no faces or jumps as the sharp pain came and went. She had a perfectly convivial, congenial, and relaxing lunch after that. It was refreshing to talk about something else besides impressing the masters and journeymen. It might as well have been a dragon hatching from all of the talk of impressing. _Yawn._ Not that she had ever attended a hatching to know, but the way people waxed poetic about it she hoped it lived up to it's reputation if that day ever came where she got to leave the sharding hall.

Ampara wolfed down her lunch as quickly as was polite while contemplating how to best distract Tari from her new mission of converting Ampara to the way of the Harper. Ampara then excused herself to the main courtyard outside the dining hall. Ahead of her was the main concert hall, to her left the teaching buildings and workshops and to the right the outlying cottages; the closer and the better ones for masters and journeymen and the further and more dorm like ones for the apprentices. Around it all was a stone wall for keeping Harpers in and the rest of the world out, or so it seemed to her. Ampara took a deep breath and stretched, trying to dispel all of the annoyance she had accumulated in such a short amount of time in one day. Her irritation was about to return with a vengeance as she smoothed dark reddish auburn strands of hair behind her ears.

"Up to another prank or something else no good aren't you? You're going to ruin the rest of our reputations."

"Ah dear cousin Matíne, always a pleasure," Ampara's words were thickly coated with a biting sarcasm.

Ampara turned around with a tight lipped smile on her face and gave a mocking bow. The girl was two turns her senior, very close to walking the tables, and as arrogant as any gold dragon. It was like the enmity between siblings without actually sharing any parents. Naturally, as they got on about as well as dragons and felines, that created more tension amongst peers and family. Maybe it was just all of those tunnel snakes that kept popping up near her dear cousin. The pests just seemed to have a fatal attraction to her. It wasn't Ampara's fault… at least about one percent of the time.

Matíne tossed long, curly, light brown locks behind her shoulder and sauntered down the steps, fixing Ampara with the brown eyes that Matíne, her mother, and her uncle all shared. Ampara wouldn't have said so to anyone else, but it almost disconcerted her as much as when her mother gave her such a pointed stare.

"If you're going to stop to point out all of my flaws and tell me what an undeserving little wretch I am then you can skip it. I've had enough boring speeches for one day," Ampara had learned to feign nonchalance like an expert, and she put her skills into use.

Matíne bit her lip, no doubt holding in all of the nasty little things she'd love to say to her cousin. She just couldn't understand it either (she and Tari probably had more in common than they knew). Ampara was the golden child next in line to be a great as a protégé under her own mother, Arai. Yet, she constantly wasted her talent and threw her uncaring attitude in the faces of everyone. Matíne knew she had twice the potential and would work harder than Ampara could ever dream of if only her aunt would give her the chance. Matíne didn't really hate her cousin she just resented her, deeply.

"The only reason I'm speaking to you is because my father is back, and he said he'd like to visit with you. Though I won't pretend to understand why."

"That's okay, I don't pretend to understand you at all. I just tell people you're uglier than a watch-wher when they ask," and she was down the steps and running before Matíne could work out an angry response to the half-heard retort.

Ampara vaulted over obstacles in her path and ran through buildings with no regard for the peace of mind of others. She could have popped a cartwheel, but she at least refrained from that. Her breathless arrival at the workshop was met by some disapproving looks, but she just smiled, waved, and sidled between the rows of tables very careful not to touch anything. Despite her seeming irreverence to her craft she never did anything malicious or permanently destructive though the thought had been quite appealing at times. Even if she was the golden child of the star there was only so much the 'loveable scamp' act would allow her to get away with, and that was generally the last line of defense when her vast reserves of charm and appeal failed her.

Ampara knocked, rocking on her heels with baited breath. Uncle Tum had been away for ages this time, and she had missed him terribly. She was more than ready for a one on one with the only member of her family that actually understood her. It was with a considerably lighter spirit that she bounded into the room when she was called. Ampara had been waiting for him to come back for a long sharding time.


	2. Chapter 2: From Me To You

**Chapter 2: **_**From Me To You**_

Ampara bounded into the room, running for her uncle as she gave up on any thoughts or pretense of restraining herself. Tumparan, affectionately known to Ampara as Uncle Tum, swept up his niece in a warm hug. She was so relieved he was back that she was more than just a little bit teary eyed, but she managed to keep herself from going to pieces as they exchanged a tight squeeze. As her mother said, big girls didn't cry no matter if the tears were sad or happy. Ampara personally felt that her mother had the emotional resonance of a rock, but keeping herself from sobbing all over the place had given Ampara the upper hand in a few of their arguments so it was perhaps one of the only things she took to heart from her dear mother.

Uncle Tum began to pry Ampara off and though she didn't want to let him go she relented and she stepped back to allow him to examine her at arms length. She tried to school her face into her well practiced look of nonchalance, but she was having a terrible time keeping a grin off her face.

"Did you forget what I looked like since you were away so long?" she teased to break the silence.

"It would take turns to forget someone of your striking nature and three sevendays doesn't even come close to meeting the requirement for one turn my most favorite niece," Tumparan steered her into a chair as he jested in return.

"It _felt_ like you were away for turns and I'm your only niece," Ampara pointed out her lips forming a slight pout.

"Ah, ah, ah none of that we had a deal, remember?"

"Of course, but you only said no pouting while you were away and now you're back," Ampara forgot her pouting and grinned, too glad that he was there to waste time being sad about the time he was gone.

"Leave it to you to find the loophole. Just like Arai."

"I'm nothing like mother," Ampara clipped her words and crossed her arms like she was preparing to defend herself.

Tumparan's eyes twinkled as he kept back a chuckle, "No I suppose you aren't. Not a bit of stubbornness in you or determination or smarts…"

She groaned, "Knock it off Uncle Tum. You know what I mean. She's unbearable," Ampara sighed but that brought to mind something else they had talked about before, "and you are going to talk to her, right? You _promised_."

Tumparan ran a hand through his short and dark reddish auburn locks that were beginning to pick up strands of grey as he got closer to his fiftieth turn while he carefully thought out his answer. It was mostly due to the fact that well…he knew his sister that he had to word it carefully at all. Ampara wasn't the only one who joined him in his office for clandestine talks and at times venting. It was a precarious situation at best.

"Ampara darling you know I wouldn't break a promise to you without good reason and you know I fully plan to keep this one, but I can't promise that Arai is going to be reasonable about this. I'll do my best to convince her, but more eloquent Harpers than I have failed to convince her of simpler requests."

Tumparan watched as his niece toyed with the necklace he'd given her two turns back as a present. She always toyed with the small sapphire pendant when she made her more serious considerations, and Ampara did indeed slide the pendant back and forth along the chain her finger rubbing back and forth against the silver almost in a rhythm as she considered her options.

"You _have_ to convince her," Ampara's tone was almost pleading, mostly because all the rest of Harper Hall had her all wrong.

Everyone, or anyone who counted (her mother, Tari, Matíne, etcetera, etcetera) felt that Ampara was throwing her life away. They thought she rebelled because she was just some sort of lazy delinquent which just wasn't the case at all. Ampara knew exactly what she wanted, and what she wanted was to follow in the footsteps of her Uncle Tum. Tumparan was not the best in his field and remained so far a senior journeyman with his specialty falling under instrument crafting. The reason he remained a journeyman was because he provided a far more valuable skill to the Hall than just making gitars and the like. Tumparan was actually in the business of finding things out so that the Hall was in the know, and as a journeyman who went out on commission his absences would never be particularly missed (excepting certain nieces of course) so it made him a prime candidate for the job. Ampara's ambitions to follow in his footsteps were mostly centered on the idea that she would get to leave, travel, and maybe even explore. She didn't know some of the more dangerous things her uncle was required to do at times to obtain information. Ampara might not have cared or might have simply glossed over such a thing, but her mother certainly knew what Tumparan did as a master in her own field. That sort of thing left Ampara's chances at a disadvantage. Ampara felt or rather knew that she didn't belong in Harper Hall at least all of the time. She was ready to do anything to get out, and perhaps even get away from the reputation she had so painstakingly built as a troublemaker.

"More importantly what are you going to do if I don't?" and it was Uncle Tum's turn to fix Ampara with that disconcerting family stare.

She clenched her fists as that was something she precisely didn't want to think about, "Well I haven't burned down the Hall yet have I?" Ampara grumbled.

Her uncle seemed slightly wary of her now and Ampara let out a frustrated sigh, "Look at this way. I can't fight with her about it since that will just make things worse. It will be better if she just thinks it's entirely your idea that I should go wandering with you so I can come back and settle down or whatever rubbish you're going to feed her. All that's left is just trying to make do with what I've got."

"Well making do with what you've got has included putting tunnel snakes in _my_ daughter's bed, ruining dinner on a few occasions, disappearing for long hours to worry us all to death, and the list goes on," Tumparan carefully pointed out, making Ampara hang her head.

"They all seemed like good ideas at the time…" Ampara noted that her uncle didn't seem amused by her response, "but I'm sorry, I really am sorry," she added quickly.

"Maybe I just need a hobby," she suggested, trying to lighten the suddenly serious mood.

"Yes, a very time consuming one," Ampara offered her Uncle Tum a tentative smile since he sounded less cross.

"Speaking of time you had better run along now you have your music lessons to attend to this afternoon."

"But I want to hear about your trip."

"I'll give you all of the details I'm allowed to spare later after your lessons and after I get caught up on the things that have been neglected while I've been away. I'll see you at dinner alright?"

Ampara sighed, "Okay," she jumped up and ran around the desk to give him another hug and a quick peck on the cheek, "I'm really glad you're back," and with that she was gone in a flash.

Tumparan chuckled to himself, thinking that Ampara was too much like himself for her own good. Her name had been derived from his even. Arai had honored him in that respect, but who knew it could have foretold such trouble? Of course all children were rapscallions at some point in time. Matíne certainly had her difficult moments and it didn't help that he was away so much. It also no doubt didn't help Ampara that her mother threw herself into her work with a tenacity that most people young or old couldn't match. The difference between Matíne and Ampara was really quite simple, and it was all in how they had each responded to a similar situation. Matíne chose to seek positive attention while Ampara sought out negative attention. Tumparan was just relieved that Ampara paid as much attention in her classes as Matíne did even though she pretended not to care. She only seemed to shirk responsibility more than she actually did. He was just afraid that a change of venue within the Hall itself might not be enough in the long run. Ampara was a bright girl, and he felt she would do well anywhere if she put her mind to it. All she needed to do was find a knack for something other than trouble.

Tumparan began to sort through a stack of things on his desk, pushing the matter to the back of his mind for a bit. He did need to focus on some of the other things he'd put off in his absence. Besides he knew Arai would come to see him as soon as she had a moment, seeking her out while she was in the middle of something tended to result in a severe scolding even if one was family. He would just have to keep a weather eye and gauge her mood before he spoke to her, hopefully Ampara wouldn't find someway to upset her until he had a chance to speak with her. Of course since their relationship was so volatile at times he wasn't holding out much hope, but a man could dream at least.

He wasn't the only one dreaming at the moment. Ampara had decided day dreaming her music lessons away would be the best way to spend her time, or at least her time with the full choir. Her one on one lessons were mercifully not until the next day. Those were a different brand of torture.

"Ampara!"

She practically jumped out of her skin, "I'm sorry, what?"

The instructor sighed, "We're starting from the top so your duet if you please."

"Right," Ampara slowly made her way down front to meet her tenor partner, trying to hold off as long as possible.

They had been practicing their special piece for the dragonriders that was to be presented at the next gather almost endlessly, and by that point Ampara thought she could sing the words in her sleep. What was worse is that her mother composed it and instead of Matíne getting slotted for the duet it had somehow fallen to Ampara. Of course Matíne got a nice long solo later on, but Ampara resented being specially featured at all. She listened as the music started and on cue she started in as a clear soprano, but with a slightly darker timbre than some. Ampara projected well and her voice rose easily over the musicians and those singing in the background. For a moment she was lost in her own sound. She could perform well when it came right down to it, but after a few bars they were cut off, and she held in a sigh as the conductor spoke to the instrumentalists about some wrong crescendo or something or other. Details, tedious details, and thus her day went on in a very starting and stopping polishing sort of manner.

It was with a large sense of relief that they were released to dinner. Somehow they even managed to get out early, but of course that might have had something to do with a well timed spilling of ink. Ampara couldn't help it if she was slightly clumsy on occasion. Accidents did happen after all…


	3. Chapter 3: Revolution

**AN:** Sorry about the long wait for the third chapter. I've been out of town, and then I went to GenCon, and then when I returned I unfortunately got ill. I'll try not to make you wait so long for chapter four, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy chapter three.

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**Chapter 3: **_**So you say you want a revolution, well you know…**_

"It's going to be all right," Tari dabbed the cut on Ampara's cheek with redwort, trying to avoid staining her fingers with the stuff by using a scrap of old cloth.

Ampara hissed and grit her teeth. The cut sharding stung.

"You won't need stitches though it bled a lot for such a small cut," Tari glanced to the rather red rag she had been holding against her friend's cheek.

"It's got redwort stain on it, but you were too busy getting all excited for nothing to hear me say so earlier."

They both worked in the infirmary as part of their _education_, and so she had accumulated several of the stained rags for various purposes. She had found that miming a semi-serious injury was a good way to skip out on all sorts of lessons (using the nose bleed excuse also worked really, really well). Arai had thought to vary her daughter's foundation by making her work there part-time, and while Ampara didn't mind it most of the time the lack of fatal injuries going around the hall made it boring; just another round of lectures in her already lecture-full days. Ampara did have to admit that the first aid stuff came in handy when she went around getting into fights. Not that she meant to get into fights or specifically any fight, because really she wasn't the fighting sort except when it came to shouting matches with her mother. However, at that time she'd found it was one thing to have a reputation and quite a different one to have her name sullied by someone who knew next to nothing about her.

"Well just as long as my face is still going to be pretty for the performance in a few sevendays I'll go ahead and thank you now," she stood from where she had been perched on the edge of the bed and experimentally worked her jaw, hoping it wouldn't swell much.

"You're lucky she didn't have more than one ring," Tari winced as she remembered the harsh smack of Sica's fist against Ampara's face.

"No._ She's_ lucky I didn't break her nose, because such a sharding deadglow should get lost _between_," the notion of 'between' was a very vague concept for Ampara, but she knew enough to know that once somebody got stuck there that somebody wasn't coming back.

"Ampara!" even though they were in the sanctity of the room that they shared Tari still had a deeply rooted paranoia that at any minute someone would pass by, and that she would be implicated in some sort of something due to her friend's mouth.

"She's a dimglow! If she had any sort of sense she'd have turned around walked away and not accused me of…of…" her anger put her past words as the whole scene replayed itself in her mind.

Ampara would admit that she had a tendency to be a bit of a troublemaker. Sure, she had practiced her fair share of the art, but she was not some sort of proddy green dragonrider. She would be flamed if she was going to let Sica spread around such terrible rumors since she was definitely not some sort of lovesick boy chaser. Ampara was especially not the sort to chase around the boys that were already spoken for, and she wasn't sure which accusation ticked her off more.

"I suppose if she had some sense she'd notice that Matten was the one she should have been yelling that stuff at," but Tari's voice lacked a certain conviction, and that bothered Ampara.

She pretended to study her face in the mirror as if she was worried about how injured her face was, but in reality she took the opportunity to study Tari's demeanor. The truth of the matter was that she didn't seem to care that much now that Ampara wasn't bleeding anymore. Did she even care that such vicious rumors were circulating about her supposed best friend?

"You don't believe Sica do you?" Ampara turned around slowly, and she then fixed Tari with a deeply piercing and probing look.

Most people were never on the receiving end of such a look from Ampara. In fact Ampara rarely had the chance to get angry at people that weren't part of her family, and until recently Tari had seen few of them directed at her. She found that being on the receiving end of one seemed almost scarier than the ones Master Arai gave to Ampara, and she couldn't quite place her finger on why, especially when she was preoccupied with giving an answer that didn't sound too guilty.

"Well it's not like it's a new one. I mean ever since you turned Caderyn down they just sort of popped up, and there are so many…"

"So you just didn't say anything? How could you? Why didn't you?" Ampara's jaw worked as she struggled to finish a though.

"Nobody was going to listen to me anyway…"

"But you're my best friend! If anyone would know it would be you."

"It's better to just ignore those sorts of things until they go away."

"Right, because it just goes away when I'm such a hot topic right?"

"Well you brought it on yourself you know. You're lucky that Caderyn had any interest in you much less some of the others."

"Are you serious? He's the worst of the bunch. He thinks that all a girl needs is him and they are fine and well off."

"But he's going places. He's one of the best in his class."

"Is that all that matters to you? Station? He was probably born under the Red Star and you know he just wants what he can't have."

"You're impossible!" Tari had lost her patience with Ampara and her wild notions. Why couldn't she just fit in?

"And you're a dimglow!"

"Fine! Be alone, I think that's what you like best anyway so I'm leaving."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

Ampara didn't flinch when the door slammed. She knew she was right, and she was just sorry that Tari was too much a part of the crowd to notice it. Caderyn was at best a hunk of firestone; all gas and ash. At his worst she had seen girls in tears, and the only reason he was somebody was because he was the son of a master. Since he was the son of a master and she was the daughter of another he thought they must be destined for one another. Ampara just wanted to gag thinking about it, especially since she knew he used girls to satisfy certain needs of his and she found that crude as well as despicable. She'd go with a girl before she came within a dragonlength of him.

Ampara flopped on her bed, trying to decide what she should do to amuse herself, mostly trying to think of something to distract her from her annoyed feelings. She'd probably apologize to Tari later just to appease her, but she'd never be sorry for ignoring that two-faced lecher. Unfortunately it seemed there was no rest for the wicked as her mother's firelizard popped into the room with a message attached to its leg. It screeched loudly to get Ampara's attention, and she rolled her eyes at the brown.

"Oh jays. Now what?" she let it land and removed the message only to get nipped at for her trouble, "Go away you pest," she snapped after she had the message firmly in hand.

It squawked at her and then took off to disappear _between_, having done its duty. Ampara disliked it as it was always following her around and watching her. As if Arai needed it to spy on her since she had everyone else doing it enough as it was. She unrolled the message not unsurprised to find a summons to Arai's office.

_Great…just great. Just what I needed._

Of course it was after dinner by then, and the slim crescents of Belior and Timor were already shining with a wan light over Harper Hall. Ampara threw the message in the corner, and considered pretending she hadn't received it so she could just go to sleep and forget the day ever happened. She also knew if she did that then her mother would just show up sooner or later, and if she was going to get yelled at she figured she might as well get it over with sooner rather than later. Ampara rolled over and heaved a breath, trying to mentally prepare herself for a meeting with her ball and chain. She really wanted to be anywhere but Harper Hall at that moment, and that thought occurred to her more and more the longer the turn pressed on. Ampara got up and shuffled out of the apprentice dorm as slowly as possible, thinking the slower she walked the longer it would put off her doom. She was already wondering what her punishment would be, and how to best get out of it. In the end Ampara's mind kept coming back around to dwell on the day, and more and more she wondered what it would be like if she didn't have to be there to dwell on any of it at all.


	4. Chapter 4: I'm Looking Through You

**AN:** Just thought I'd give a shout out to my reviewers. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to review my story. I hope you continue to enjoy it. .

Also…my college classes have started up again, and I really wanted to update this story on a weekly basis; however, I think it's going to have to be more of an every other week basis. I haven't forgotten it and I'm not writer's blocked or uncertain how to continue, but I'm just very busy. I'll try to update as often as possible of course, but it's all about when time permits. I thank you for your continued support and patience.

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**Chapter 4: **_**I'm Looking Through You**_

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Dragging her feet had done nothing to change her destination, and it was with a weak kind of dread in the pit of her stomach and a clenched jaw that Ampara smartly rapped on Arai's closed office door. She waited with baited breath, but before she could even begin to hope Arai wasn't going to be there her mother answered.

"Enter."

Not realizing how tightly she had clenched her fists Ampara wiped a sweaty palm on her pant leg, and she then gripped the door handle firmly, turning it quietly. She opened the door, and then she slipped into the room.

Arai glanced up from the hides in front of her, "Have a seat," and her gaze immediately returned to what she was reading.

_How perfunctory…_

Ampara sat, but she merely perched on the edge of the seat with very rigid posture. She surreptitiously scoped the room for that annoying firelizard which was often on her like a dragon on a wherry. The only thing it came in handy for was judging Arai's mood, but the infuriating creature of course had to be asleep. She didn't even know why her mother bothered with the thing. Arai made it perfectly clear that she wasn't fond of dragonriders, or rather, in Arai's own words, the 'weyr lifestyle'. Ampara supposed it was because as a master her mother felt entitled to one, but all it seemed to be was a message carrier that slept, ate, and nipped at her fingers from time to time. The little brown was just something else on the list of things that weren't very fond of her.

Ampara wondered why dragonriders were on the list of things her mother wasn't fond of. Since thread had returned it seemed all anyone could do was sing their praises, and yet her mother still had her criticisms which seemed unfounded from what other harpers liked to say. Of course maybe they weren't totally unfounded either. The kitchen ladies did like to talk, and well…what else was there to listen to while you buffed pots and pans as a punishment?

"Don't slouch," Ampara started, straightening immediately at the authoritative tone.

Arai's daughter held in an exasperated sigh as she also wondered if her mother just made her wait to annoy her, or if she got some sort of satisfaction out of making her offspring squirm. Eventually Arai neatly folded the hide and placed it on her desk, but not before her daughter had checked out of reality again. Ampara was probably featuring herself in a daydream of the life of high excitement that came from being on the road.

Arai watched her daughter and decided that she hated that faraway look. Her lips had twisted into a sour expression before she could stop herself from giving anything away. Ampara took that moment to notice her mother was ready for her undivided attention of course, and so the meeting suddenly became a hostile stare down. Suddenly, it was less of a talk and more of an uphill battle. Arai spoke first and re-directed her hostility into a more salient topic than her past.

"You got into a fight agai…"

"Self-defense. I'm going to be the one with the bruise," no time wasted on the excuse.

"That's not the point Ampara. I know the extenuating circumstances already. You're lucky that you have good friends that worry enough about you to come to me, especially when things start to go from bad to worse. I can't help that rumors are going around like they are, but I know that using your fists to give another girl a bloody nose is not a way to solve problems."

"She tried to give me a bloody nose first. And what do you mean 'friends' that worry about me?" Ampara struggled for a moment as she tried to figure out what 'friend' her mother meant, "You've got Tari spying on me too then."

"No one is spying on you. I'm just worried about you Ampara," and despite the sincere tones that Arai used to color her statement her daughter just couldn't believe it was that simple.

"No you're worried that there isn't going to be anyone to take up the mantle," she couldn't help but sound bitter, and she purposely slouched despite the look she got for it.

"Don't act like a petulant child. We both know you're too old for that."

Ampara bit her lip to keep any further 'petulant' remarks to herself. The conversation was heated, but they weren't shouting yet. Maybe she still had a shot to get off easily if she didn't add too much fuel to the fire. She distractedly toyed with her necklace, trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation.

Arai, however, readily provided a change of subject, "The fight is incidental Ampara, and you'll have extra chores in the kitchen for that. What I want to talk to you about is your situation."

"Which is precarious at best?" she had retorted before she could zip her lip.

Arai leaned forward and looked Ampara in the eye, and Ampara found the deathly serious look her mother was giving her very disturbing. It made it seem like she was on some sort of precarious edge, and that if she strayed much farther she'd find herself in threadfall with no dragons to protect her. She dismissed that idea almost immediately, because in her mind she knew exactly what she was doing.

Her mother decided not to mince words, "When my brother starts coming to me spouting ridiculous notions about my daughter traipsing across Pern with him then I know that something is seriously wrong, and I know from what Tari has told me that it wasn't his idea either."

"I need new friends I guess," she sounded glib, but the ache in her jaw was telling of exactly how many words she had decided to sit on during the whole discussion.

"Ampara this is not acceptable. Wanderlust is not a cure for fear of growing up, and the fact that you continue to shirk your responsibilities certainly does not make you a candidate for sporadic wanderings across the continent. Tumparan loves you and he also cares for you a lot. I know that he has your best interest at heart, but sometimes he doesn't realize that your unrealistic ideas aren't in your best interest at all."

"Maybe it would be in my best interest. You could at least let me try it."

"No, I don't want to hear anymore about it. It's far too dangerous Ampara, and if Tumparan ever thought about anything he would realize that it's not the sort of thing he should bring his young niece along for."

"I'm sixteen turns old, and really it won't be a lot longer until my next birthing day. That isn't young."

"It's too young for his sort of work. Matíne would be much better suited for it."

"Matíne is better suited to the sorts of things you want me to do, and I'm better suited to the sort of things Uncle Tum does. If we weren't two turns apart I'd say somebody gave you the wrong baby. Have you even noticed that's she going through fog, fire, and fall so you'll take her on as a journeywoman?"

"This isn't about Matíne or her walking the tables. This is about you."

"It's sort of about her. You want me to be her, and I'm not. I'm not you either."

"I've noticed, which is why we're going to try a change of pace."

"Change of pace?"

"Obviously I haven't been challenging you enough. Idle hands just keep getting you into trouble, and so I have a revised schedule with more activities to keep you busy. If you don't learn some responsibility now you are never going to be able to take care of yourself later. I've given you more hours with the healers since they have plenty of work, and I've also got you down with the archivist. Your improved curriculum will also allow you to sample a great deal of what exactly the hall has to offer you since you've made it quite clear you want nothing to do with my part of the craft. I've also added…"

Ampara let her mother continue talking as her brain numbly absorbed the new information. This was the total opposite of what she wanted, and Tari had gone and stabbed her in the back to make it all worse. The whole situation was well dusted. Was the whole sharding hall against her? Ampara lowered her head into her hands, feeling her throat close up like she wanted to sob yet she didn't have the heart to really cry.

"I know it's a lot to absorb right now, and that it's going to be hard at first. You might hate this right now, but you will thank me later."

She gave a weak laugh, "Not likely Master Arai."

"Don't take that tone with me."

"I'll take whatever tone I want," Ampara stood, and she hadn't realized it but she had started shouting, "You think you can just fix me? Like replacing the strings on an old gitar? I'm sorry I'm not _you_. Maybe I look like you, but I'm not your less talented twin. I have my own ideas about what I want to do and I'm _sorry_ that they aren't in line with your ideas of what I should be doing. And you know what? I don't want to be you."

She stormed out, and she shrugged off Arai's hand as she stood and tried to stop her. Once she was clear of the building she started running. She wasn't sure which way she was going, but she knew it didn't matter anyway because she was caged in so she would have to stop sooner or later.

Arai watched her go, but she didn't bother going after her. She remembered what it was like to be sixteen turns, and she was sure that once Ampara calmed down and started on her new schedule that she would be happier. She sat back down in her chair, and she went over her plan again in her head. She acknowledged that Ampara wasn't the same as she was, but she saw the same tendencies that had gotten her into trouble when she was younger though not quite that young. Ampara was just a very intelligent individual who just needed more outlets for her high energy and spirit.

_What am I supposed to do? Let her run around the hall like some sort of untamed runner? I'm thinking of her, not myself._


	5. Chapter 5: A Little Help From My Friends

_Authors Note:_ Special thanks to **truegold-dragonstar** for pointing out a couple things I hadn't realized/thought about and who ultimately gave me the idea for the perfect start of this chapter. I still haven't perfectly answered her questions or some of the others I'm sure you've had and certainly will have, but in good time dear readers; all in good time. With that in mind please, please read and review all forms of constructive criticism are welcome. I know I'm by no means perfect, and your feedback would be much appreciated. Thank you as always, Mage Of Roses.

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**Chapter 5: **_**With a Little Help From My Friends**_

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Tari paced their shared room, frowning. She had picked up the pacing habit from Ampara; silly girl couldn't ever sit still no matter how patient she was feeling. Of course that's why she loved Ampara like a sister wasn't it? Ampara was always doing something, going somewhere…

_And generally up to no good._

Tari banished the uncharitable thought and sat down giving in to her tendency to chew on her nails as the frustration began to weigh her down. Ampara wasn't back yet, and she was scared stiff that she was really going to get an earful that time. Tari knew she just needed a chance to explain and apologize. She was sure that Ampara would understand if (_big if_) Tari could get a word in edgewise first.

The truth was that she had gone to Master Arai on Ampara's behalf. Tari had been telling her everyday for the past 500 turns or so (at least that's what it seemed like) that there was no way her plan was going to work. As a big believer in adventure Tari at first thought her friend's plan was a grand feat of engineering, but then they had received a seminar about walking the tables and she had realized that Ampara's great scheme had some serious flaws in design, theory, and execution. As the senior journeyman lectured and Tari had sat there listening intently Ampara had been skiving off to do who knew what. He kept harping on (no pun intended) the necessity for responsibility, pride in one's craft, and a high level of dedication. The more Tari sat there and thought about the things he said the more it dawned on her that Ampara really had none of those things which meant her plan was doomed to fail from the start.

_Dedication to make trouble maybe_. Tari had thought at that time with a small conspiratorial smile.

As if right on cue with her inner musings screams had begun to erupt from the kitchens area. No one had ever managed to implicate Ampara in that particular fiasco concerning a tunnelsnake, but Tari had never doubted it was her best friend. They had all crowded around the dining hall to get the scoop on the disaster, and Ampara suddenly appeared next to her as if from _between_ itself. Ampara was laughing so hard she was mostly just breathing heavily, clutching her sides as she wheezed, and she had tears streaming down her face like miniature waterfalls.

Tari had put her hand over her mouth to hide her laughter, trying to appear more stern and disapproving than she felt. She couldn't do anything but giggle helplessly later about the whole thing after Ampara dragged her away and treated her to a private rendition of her daring, mischievous feat.

She had gotten a lot better at being disapproving since that time of course. It hadn't started long after Tari had begun to point out the little flaws in Ampara's grand plan that was going to keep it from fruition. The biggest problem was her best friend's total lack of responsibility, and telling her that or anything else her that had done about as much good as trying to catch a firelizard with a fishing pole. Her at first gentle cajoling had eventually given way to just giving Ampara the blunt truth of the situation. Anywhere in that transition whether it was beginning, middle, or end just did nothing except drive a wedge between them. Tari was on the ground and Ampara was flying with the dragons.

Tari sighed and clasped her hands so she wouldn't chew on her nails any further. The waiting was unbearable.

_You didn't do anything wrong. Ampara had to know it wasn't going to work. Something I said must have registered, right?_

She was trying to rationalize her decision for going to Master Arai. Her respectful pleading had fallen on someone tone deaf to personal inner turmoil. Tari had made an explosive situation worse, and she decided to accept the fact that talking to Master Arai was like talking to Ampara; firelizards and fishing poles. She just wanted Ampara to get it out of her system, and so she thought that providing herself as a close personal contact and confidant would maybe give her leverage. While Master Arai had politely pretended to be concerned she had pumped Tari for information, and then told her exactly what she had in mind and that it didn't concern sending Ampara off to get her wild streak out of her. Tari had been avoiding the room after since that time, and she had finally gotten courage to return only to find the room empty. The curled up note in the corner had made her want to wail in hopeless despair.

_Ampara is going to think I'm the worst friend a person could possibly get stuck with._

Tari fidgeted as every minute seemed to turn into an hour.

_Where is she?_

Unfortunately, no answer was going to present itself anytime soon.

_While Tari waited and worried (and eventually went back to nail biting) the rest of Harper Hall stirred uneasily as urgent staccato drumbeats began to filter in from the nearby hold. It was tagged as being originally from the weyr and far off in the distance there were strange noises as the night stirred feverishly. Something was up._

Ampara either didn't hear or purposely ignored the drum message as she wallowed in her own misery. When sobbing and running had proved to be too much to undertake at once she had limped on until she just let herself collapse in her usual spot, laying face down and crying into the crook of her arm. Ampara could look outside through the bars of the old back gate and she loved being able to see out and beyond most times. She hated it too, because it was barred, locked, sturdy, and only served as a reminder that she was trapped inside. Of course at that precise moment she hated about everyone or everything she had ever been in contact with, but that most foul part of the mood was quickly passing into a tired, defeated despair. She just wanted to scream her rage, howl it right up to the slim crescents of Belior and Timor. No matter what route her thoughts took she kept arriving back at the same conclusion. There was nothing she could do except take it like a Harper.

_Didn't you know…_the dirty little thought started to creep up in her mind.

Ampara sniffled and raised her eyes so she could look outside, trying to find that sense of peace she could get from that simple action. She was trying to find that logical place of her mind where petty anger and deep sadness weren't going to intrude on rationality. Of course that didn't really ever happen Ampara just liked to think it did. She did have enough sense at least not to blame Tari for what happened. Her mother was her mother so what should she have expected? With that thought Ampara just made herself miserable all over again. She just wanted to get out and get away and be what she wanted to be whatever that was. Ampara didn't feel like a harper at all, and she was secretly sure that she really wasn't cut out for the life. It just didn't interest her to sing songs about past heroic deeds in honor of people she didn't know and didn't honestly care about. She wanted to be the one doing heroic and dangerous things. Ampara wanted the songs to be about _her_.

She sighed and wiped her eyes on her sleeve as one finger made random patterns in the dirt.

_Big girls don't cry, big girls don't cry._ The cynical mantra played on loop for a few moments to be followed by a wistful… _I want out._ And she stared past the gate and the scenery beyond.

"Awwww, poor baby. Is she crying because she got into a fight with her mama," a snigger followed, "Poor Ampy, booo hooo."

Ampara was willing to admit that lying in the dirt and crying all over one's arm didn't look very dignified at all, but the immediate feeling of loathing that she felt for that familiar voice made everything into a personal insult. She would be threadscored before she let that talentless journeyman heckle her. Her only problem at the moment was that she felt almost too tired to dish out the snide remarks.

"Go away Valtoren or I'm going to break your nose," but she was more than happy to deal out threats as a satisfactory compensation.

"Too bad yours already seems to be broken the way you're snotting all over the place like a 'brat."

_Okay, that's it. Damn the consquences._

Ampara had reached the very bottom of her patience, and she was already upset and pissed off. Valtoren had really picked the wrong night.

She sprang to her feet and spun around, thinking savage thoughts about feeding him his insides when the world spun causing her to stagger into the gate like some sort drunk. Except, in her limited experience, drunken staggering was a lot less painful when a person ran into something.

Valtoren sneered, "Can't even walk straight, been into the wine?"

"No, and it's really quite the shame. It would sure make your watch-wher lookin' face a whole lot easier to bear."

Ampara felt a streak of glee as she saw anger flash in his eyes.

"Well at least the ladies will still want me. I can't say the same for you and men after all of those terrible rumors…"

She had totally forgotten about her slowly bruising face with all of the other problems she'd had to deal with that night. Ampara cracked her knuckles.

"Don't worry I'm sure I can get you to retract a statement or two," Valtoren was bigger and heavier than her, but Ampara had speed and lots of dirty tricks which she was neither afraid nor ashamed to use.

"You wouldn't. I'm a journeyman now."

"Wanna bet wher face? Scared I'm going to teach you a lesson even though I'm just a simple apprentice girl, or are you still just jealous because I'm the only girl not falling over herself to tell you you're a pretty boy?"

"They'll toss you out."

"Coward. Wherry-faced coward!" Ampara took two menacing steps forward to close the distance between them her muscles taut.

"They _will_ toss you out, but maybe not before I've taught you to watch your lip," Valtoren snarled, and there is no doubt that it would have come to blows between the life long enemies, but life had a funny way of intervening.

"Ampara!"

The addressee froze, thinking for one horrible second that it was her mother before Tari appeared out of the gloom.

"Finally, I've been waiting for you to come back, but I had to come find you. I just heard the most awful news…" Tari meant to continue chattering on in her anxiety when she was cut off by several loud roars.

_Dragons? …Why?_

Ampara looked up first to see glowing eyes and large bodies where previously there had been only starlight and the wan glow of Belior and Timor, and then she looked to where Valtoren had been standing. He had already disappeared and made himself scarce.

"What's going on?!" she had to shout over the angry rumbles.

Tari shouted her response, but to Ampara ears it almost seemed a whisper.

"Eggs. Someone stole eggs from Great Cliffs Weyr."

That was something that grabbed Ampara's attention even though in most respects her view of the world was quite narrow. It seemed like the whole of Pern was falling to pieces around her.


	6. Chapter 6: Tell Me Why

_Author's Note:_ Cookies and gold stars to anyone knows where I'm getting all of my chapter titles from which may be obvious, but I like to think I was being clever or at least cute. After all Harper Hall, music, follow my drift? I also wanted to take a consensus concerning the length of my chapters. Good length? Longer perhaps? I notice I've sort of stuck myself in the James Patterson camp with my rather short chapters (at least compared to some stories I've noticed around) and so I decided to make this a longer chapter and see how it would go. Your feedback would be most appreciated. Thank you as always, Mage of Roses. _Note_: Updated 5.24.2013 to correct egg count and also clean up final paragraph.

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**Chapter 6: **_**Tell Me Why**_

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Two sevendays later the eggs from Great Cliffs Weyr were still missing, and while the weyr had gone so far as to station a dragonrider at the hall there was no forthcoming information. It was almost as if the eggs had disappeared off the sands of their own volition. The wild rumors flying around the hall due to the suddenly tight lips of the senior hall members made it even more difficult to uncover the precious few true details. What Matíne knew for sure was that two unidentified dragons and their riders had removed a total of five eggs from an already meager clutch of twenty-one eggs. The _why_ was what bothered Matíne the most, but it irritated her even more that her father seemed to know what was going on and refused to give her any details. She wasn't Ampara after all. Matíne knew that her cousin took more than a passing interest in her father's affairs, and so she had tracked down her cousin in hopes of getting details that the dimglow couldn't put together on her own.

Matíne had found Ampara easily enough though she was surprised to find her elbow deep in records that she was copying in the archives. It was to her satisfaction that she caught her cousin doing more reading than actual writing. Ampara didn't have the decency to be startled or to appear contrite when she found Matíne looking over her shoulder.

"Yes?"

"Shouldn't you be outside terrorizing small children?"

Ampara smiled in a parody of sweetness, "They don't scream as loudly as you."

Matíne knew that her 'dear cousin' was just trying to annoy her to get rid of her, but she wasn't going to bite.

"Look. Why you're here isn't important…"

"Oh, so you're not here to gloat over my mother trying to instill a sense of responsibility in me?" Matíne noted in bemusement that her cousin was nothing less than extremely suspicious.

"There are bigger things going on that Aunt Arai's new schedule for you," she sighed, did Ampara have any concept of the world beyond herself?

"Such as?" case in point.

"The egg theft you deadglow."

Ampara rubbed her eyes, "What about it? Hoping they'll turn up here so you get a chance to impress like the rest of the dithering wherries keep squealing about?"

Matíne bit the inside of her cheek, trying to be patient as a good harper should be. No need to let her cousin get under her skin before she got what she wanted.

"Nothing like that. I just want to know if you've heard anything, or maybe if my father has said anything to you that would… I guess clarify what we know for sure?"

Matíne knew she was laying all of her cards on the table, but she was also aware that even though her feelings about Ampara were less than charitable sometimes that her father was right. Her cousin was sharp though she wouldn't have dared admit that to anyone else, and if she thought Matíne was digging for information in a suspicious manner than getting her cooperation would be like trying to draw an inside straight in Bitra. Ampara could be taciturn as it was, and so she hoped that being upfront would smooth the path.

Ampara seemed to freeze in place for a moment as she considered the possibilities, and it seemed to Matíne that her cousin hadn't even considered that idea. She really wanted to sigh at her again… _No awareness beyond herself at all._

There was immediate rifling through materials for clean hide in a spur of action that nearly startled them both.

"What on Pern…?"

"Shh," Ampara held a finger up to signal her cousin to wait.

The usually neat script took on a loopy, scrawling, slanted quality as she began diagramming what she knew about her uncle's trips. Ampara's hand slowed after a few moments as she paused to consider what she was writing. She stalled and began playing with her necklace as she considered the seemingly far fetched idea more deeply. Ampara in her initial zeal at the thought of figuring something out had realized that none of it really made any sense. Her helpfulness at that point could have easily been mistaken for a genuine interest in what was going on beyond herself, but Ampara really only cared that it was something other than copying records. Not to mention she liked the idea of knowing what was really gong on before anyone else, but maybe Uncle Tum wasn't working on anything to do with all of the recent excitement among the weyrfolk. Plus, she was biased in her thinking as she just couldn't imagine her uncle having his hands in anything dirty or underhanded even if he was doing it for the benefit of weyr, hall, and hold. After all, he'd made it very clear on past occasions how he felt about the sort of people who would rather steal from others than do an honest days work.

"Well?"

"I don't think I can help you Matíne. Uncle Tum mostly travels to the outlying islands of the western continent to explore them. I don't see what that would have to do with egg stealing since the explorations come between regular visits to major and minor holds alike. Sometimes he even goes long breaks without doing anything secretive, and he's barely said anything about what he did last time he was gone."

"Those rogue dragonriders could have hidden the eggs on one of those islands somewhere."

Ampara's turn to sigh as Matíne's overly smug sounding response glossed over the obviously flaw, "All of the ones he visits have holds. Don't you think they would notice random dragonriders going back and forth?"

"Maybe he has gone to the unsettled ones and just hasn't told _you_."

She rolled her eyes at her arrogant relative, "Whatever. Why do you care anyway? It's not like you could figure out something they don't already know. It's the dragonriders' problem why don't you try letting them handle it?"

"We're harpers we _should_ care."

Ampara made a sound of disgust, "Oh really? I think you just like putting your big nose in everyone else's business."

"At least I'm not stuck copying records for being an irresponsible _child_," Matíne didn't bother to mask her feeling of superiority as she drew herself up to her full height to further emphasize her feeling of self-importance.

"Get out."

"Or what? Like anyone would believe I was making trouble."

That was just playing nasty, "Matíne I'm giving you fair warning here. Take it and start making yourself scarce faster," perhaps Ampara was feeling charitable after their momentary truce in pursuit of an answer.

The younger apprentice turned her back to her irritating relative and unscrewed the lid on the bottle of ink she had been using to copy, intending it seemed to return to one of the most tedious and boring tasks that anyone could have ever thought up.

"Don't just turn your back on me and ignore me you brat. You're lucky I'm not going to turn you in for slacking off."

Charity was obviously a very fleeting emotion for Ampara as she nonchalantly whipped back around and dumped the bottle of ink right down the front of her cousin's clothing. Matíne had barely started screaming her inarticulate cry of rage before Ampara was off and running. She immediately gave chase, but Ampara was in much better shape. It didn't take her long to out distance and lose the huffing and puffing Matíne. As soon as she was sure that she had achieved safety Ampara stopped and had a good snicker at her cousin's expense. She had been far too good the past couple sevendays out of respect for the dragonriders and their plight, but she was tired of stepping on eggshells. Let the dragonriders worry about their own problems. Ampara had her own plans to attend to, and they didn't involve wasting time on ridiculous theories. She skipped across the nearly empty yard and wondered where to start. Actually, she knew where to start, but where she would go and what she would do afterward was going to be the problem.

* * *

M'ran and Gigith were watching the yard, because they were that sharding bored. They were simply supposed to relay messages whenever it was necessary which was beginning to seem like never, and honestly didn't a dragonrider have better things to do? M'ran was a green rider, but even most of his fellow riders were back probably having wing practice right about then. He supposed that's what he got for being a brother of one of the higher ups, and so there he sat. Twiddling his thumbs and occasionally answering Gigith's questions which occasionally turned out to be the same question she had asked an hour ago or so.

She was kind of a quirky green, and what didn't interest most dragons interested her. M'ran spent his time watching whatever she watched when he couldn't surreptitiously listen to the harpers practicing for the gather which seemed like it was coming too soon with everything that had happened. He didn't know how they were going to keep an eye on everything and find the eggs too. They were spread too sharding thin with thread and all, and then because that foolish brown rider had won the flight it seemed as though Xeniath's clutch had been even worse than expected. Iuliana's Xeniath never had more than thirty which was definitely under expected for a pass, but at least both of the junior queens were making up for the sort of embarrassing slack. M'ran just didn't know how he felt about a brown rider as weyrleader, especially since said weyrleader seemed totally incapable of handling this crisis.

_Sharding R'farc and his sharding brown. Maybe K'osir didn't like Iuliana as much as everyone thought, but he would have been a much better weyrleader…_

M'ran's pessimistic line of thought was halted by a sudden sharpening of attention in Gigith. All he could see was some girl skipping across the yard, and he didn't understand what was so special about that.

_What is it dearheart?_

_She has strong thoughts the girl with the red in her hair._

M'ran snorted as Gigith also came up with the strangest references to other people of course her dragon logic couldn't be faulted in some cases. The headwoman at the weyr was usually 'the woman who yells at the young ones a lot' which made M'ran nearly dissolve into fits of laughter every time she brought it up, and always at the worst moments too.

_Strong how? We aren't here to search love we already have plenty of candidates for Xeniath's clutch._

_They're just strong, and they wouldn't mind if we brought another one back. We're very good at searching, but I'd like to ask Fideath and Dorminth first. Sometimes they can see more than I can._

M'ran sighed so what if the girl had 'strong' thoughts? It wasn't like they had any queens to look forward to since Xeniath had poor clutches even when a bronze did catch her, and it would be a while before the junior queens flew again as they had just gotten off the hatching sands.

_See more of what?_

_See more of the girl with the red in her hair._ Gigith sounded exasperated like it was obvious.

M'ran watched as the girl disappeared out of sight into one of the buildings, and he wondered if she'd be at the gather. Maybe if there was something to what Gigith said then they could keep an eye on her after she consulted with the other professionals of course. That thought sort of amused M'ran as Gigith did take searching so very seriously, fortunately only Fideath was more of an elitist than she was or otherwise no one would ever get searched. Their high success rate was something to be bragged over though, and M'ran did so quite often. He and T'ror (Fideath's rider) often took bets at the hatchings for any candidates that Fideath and Gigith disagreed on, and so far M'ran was safely in the lead. Maybe he'd strike up a conversation with that girl before he left. M'ran certainly wasn't opposed to adding another notch to his belt.

* * *

Ampara hummed to herself, completely unaware that she was some sort of person of interest to a dragon, making her way through the dining hall into the kitchens for an overdue snacking session. She was too busy being the happiest she'd been since the big blow out with her mother, but since that particular storm had passed she had come up with a perfectly new and wonderful idea. If nobody would let her go off and have adventures with her uncle then by the first egg she'd go off and have some of her own. The gather would last long into the night and everyone would be way too busy to notice one missing apprentice at least not until it was too late. Ampara planned to sing her duet oh so sweetly, and then make tracks as soon as she escaped from the circles of complimentary harpers, holders, and dragonriders alike. She would see Pern, and she would return as the triumphant and worldly adventurer with tales of danger and deception. Ampara really wanted to include Tari in her plans, but she knew that convincing her friend to run off with her would be impossible, especially the way she'd been acting recently. Besides lone adventurers were far more respected since they had only themselves and their wits to rely on, and maybe a firelizard companion (though Ampara didn't feel that was necessary in the least, but that's what happened in adventures so she had to play the proper part). Her preparations were of course sadly lacking for what someone would really need to survive on their own for months at a time, but Ampara was too wrapped up in her grand scheme to notice such a thing.


	7. Chapter 7: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

_Author's Note:_ So…like two months since the last update I now have for your pleasure chapter seven! It's been down in the notebook for a good while just waiting to be typed up and I just haven't had that much time. Anyway I hope you enjoy. This has been a long time coming.

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**Chapter 7: **_**While My Guitar Gently Weeps**_

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It was five days until the gather festivities would commence when disaster struck. Ampara considered it a minor inconvenience, but everyone else was treating it like unexpected threadfall. She didn't think her duet partner was very adept at all, and they had even re-written portions of it on his account which meant that he had to get off and get some sort of cough. Ampara had set herself up not to care it all. It was entirely not her problem, but her lack of empathy was quickly reversed when she found out who her new partner was. If going to the gather hadn't been necessary for Ampara's new plan she would have feigned illness herself.

Ampara couldn't keep the unhappy look from crossing her face as Valtoren joined her from the background where she formerly never had to interact with him.

_How disgusting…_

Maybe she would feign sickness. Anything was better than being paired up with him…right?

"Don't worry, Valtoren is a quick learner and I'm sure Boroan will be well soon," the instructor cheerfully punctured her thoughts, obviously he had mistaken her look of horror for concern for her former dimglow of a partner.

Valtoren flashed what most would have taken as a charming, affable smile, but Ampara found it contemptible. She decided to track down Boroan and beat some good health into him.

"He's right, nothing to worry about. I'm sure I'll be able to pick up the _slack_," she knew that was as much a blow to her singing ability as it was Boroan's.

Ampara stared at him as if she would like nothing better than to strangle him and then chop his corpse into little bits.

_Just wait I'll sing you into the ground; today, tomorrow, and every day until gather day. Then when that day comes I'll make the crowd weep so hard they'll forget you're even on stage._

She could feel just the barest amount of heat in her cheeks as the thought had intensified in her mind. If her mother had known that her deep hatred of Valtoren was inspiring her daughter to give a great performance then Valtoren might have replaced Boroan quite a bit sooner. Ampara hadn't discounted the thought of completely sabotaging the performance. In fact it had a very large appeal to her as well, but she couldn't risk it. Not even _she_ was irreverent enough to insult the dragonriders by intentionally throwing the performance in the first place, but there was also the success of her plan that hinged on being able to move freely around the gather. If messing things up turned out to be her fault then her mother would send her packing out of sheer embarrassment, and then she'd really be in trouble later. Plus there was the added bonus of Valtoren being a hundred times more annoyed by being out performed rather than trying to embarrass him on stage.

"All you have to do is keep up…if you _can_."

The instructor, completely oblivious to the loaded conversation going on in front of him, called the rehearsal to order.

"From the top ladies and gentlemen, places please. Places."

***

Ampara couldn't remember the last time she had such an exhausting practice (especially since she had quite trying a good while ago). Valtoren was disgustingly good, but she had achieved her objective. At least she was fairly sure all of the hushed whispers and sidelong glances were for her. They certainly weren't for her arch nemesis she was sure of that much. Matíne pushed past her afterwards, and Ampara noted the look of bewilderment and suspicion. Tari was being oddly quite too as they walked together. Ampara couldn't understand their reactions. They knew she could sing well when she chose to.

"So how did I do?" Ampara finally asked as they began their pass behind the bodies of the hall's various buildings; dinner would be soon.

"Why don't you sing like that all of the time?" Tari burst out not able to contain it any longer with the opening she was given.

_Great…didn't we just get done fighting?_ "What's the point? I'd hate to please my mother wouldn't I?"

"Ampara you have more talent in your pinky than most of us have in our whole bodies, and you act like it isn't a big deal or like you're nobody."

"Trying to tell me you're jealous?"

"No!" Tari clenched and unclenched her jaw, "I mean, I can't say that I wouldn't like to sing like you. I think after that everyone wants to be able to sing like you, but can't you see you're wasting a genuine gift? You could spend the rest of your life making crowds go 'wow' without even really trying."

Ampara groaned, lightly smacking her palm to her forehead, "Look Tari I may be a good singer, but there's more to life than Harper Hall. All I want is a chance to see if I want it because I really do or because it's been forced down my throat my whole life. I'm tired of being stuck here."

Tari sighed, "Ampara you don't get it. People would give up important body parts to be you instead of fighting their way up from the bottom. It's almost like you're spitting on the rest of us."

"If they want to be me so badly then they can go ahead and be me. I'd be happy to trade. You wanna' trade me Tari? Be first in line?"

Tari gave her friend a withering glower before marching off. Ampara let her go, and paused to sit on some nearby steps that led up to the back of one of the buildings, resting on the top step so she could let her long legs stretch out before her. Her finger found the small silver and sapphire pendant and she ran it back and forth along the chain as her thoughts ran away with themselves.

The only person she was spitting on by not doing her best was her mother. In her reasoning no one else cared what else she did with her 'talent' except for Tari apparently. Let them have her life if they wanted it. It certainly wasn't very appealing to her. Ampara couldn't see her 'talent' as talent, because she felt like she had been groomed into it. It was like her other had decided there was nothing more acceptable than being a harper. What was worse is that everyone treated her like she was Arai in miniature (even more so when she was young), and those days it was just like she had shouted at her mother. She might as well have been Arai's less talented twin. Ampara desperately wanted to be _Ampara_, and the only way to do that would be to get away.

Once she made tracks after the gather then she could do _what_ she pleased _when_ she pleased _where_ she pleased, and the best part was nobody would be judging the book by an older and more illustrious cover.

"So you can sing, amazing," Valtoren eased down next to her, having snuck up on her while she was busy ruminating.

Ampara had every intention of jumping up like a piece of thread had just plopped down next to her, but instead she found herself restrained by a vice-like grip around her bicep.

"Let go of me and I might even try to forget your pathetic attempt at a backhanded compliment,"

"Don't get excited. I just thought we should have a little chat you and I."

"And what could I possibly _want_ to talk to you about?" Ampara was trying very hard, though quite in vain, to squirm out of his grasp like something disgusting and slimy was touching her.

"It's very simple," and she was right to think that such a simple statement seemed to carry a very dangerous edge to it as he used his other hand to grab the collar of her jacket and haul them both up to their feet.

"See the thing is," Valtoren continued as if he wasn't being threatening in the slightest, "I didn't quite count on you being so good as you are. I really thought you were getting by on the good graces of your mother's mastery," he caught her fist and painfully twisted her arm as she attempted to slug him for that insult, "but it turns out you've been letting everyone underestimate you this entire time."

"Let go of me you sharding deadglow or I swear by Faranth…" Valtoren shut her up and momentarily distracted her from the tenacious struggle she was putting up against him by roughly shoving Ampara into the doors behind them.

"What is it exactly that makes you hide? Afraid you can't live up to mother dearest?" he looked her in the eye, and he was already too close to her face for comfort, "I think you're too arrogant for that, though it doesn't really matter, because no one likes an upstaging upstart; least of all when it's you."

Ampara couldn't help but laugh, so she had gotten to him, "Funny… I really can't find it in myself to care."

She had to admit his intimidation techniques had caught her off guard at first, and he had scared her just the tiniest bit. Ampara couldn't help but regain her swagger in the face of his feelings of inadequacy. She was pleased to see that her laughter just seemed to infuriate him more. A moment later she _almost_ regretted it when his fingers bit deeper into her arms.

"If you out perform me you little…" Valtoren barked out a sharp cry as Ampara's foot connected with his shin which also allowed her to slide out of his grasp.

She took a little running start and jumped, landing on the dirt out beyond the step and whirled around.

"What? You can't do anything to me you wher-faced idiot. I'll perform how I like. You don't scare me so why don't you go use your bullying tactics to steal candy from some small children," Ampara drew herself up and crossed her arms, putting her nose in the air.

"Maybe not here, but you should watch your back at the gather little girl. All sorts of bad things can happen to people there."

"Hmph. Empty words from an empty mind," and with that she defiantly turned her back on him, and continued on to the dining hall before twilight decided to fully fall.

There was a sour twist to Valtoren's lips as he watched her leave. _Better watch it little girl. That mouth is going to get you into trouble, big trouble._

***

As the sun set and some people were on their 'merry' way to dinner there was at least one person in particular who wasn't hungry. Gitar chords leaked from her office and her voice provided a soft accompaniment. Occasionally there was a pause to stop and scribble, but mostly Arai was tuning to herself for fun. It was the only hobby she had time for.

"I look at you all, see the love there that's sleeping, while my gitar gently weeps…" the knock at the door abruptly broke her concentration, and Arai realized she had forgotten her dinner…again.

"Come in," she called; sure it was one of the kitchen staff.

They always sent some food along when they realized her non-presence, but, much like her daughter hours before, she was very unpleasantly surprised.

"I don't have anything to say to you M'ran. You might as well leave," Arai scowled, and set herself at her most intimidating.

He just shut the door and went and sat in the chair that Ampara had occupied sometime before, "I've noticed since you've refused to answer any of the letters I've sent you since you left Southern," he was serious, but sounded more bemused than hurt.

"I made my wishes very clear."

"Well the phrase is 'time heals all wounds' not 'running away solves problems' in case you needed a reminder. I'd also like to remind you that I was always the more hard-headed of the two of us."

"I'm not sure that's true and if it was then it was a long time ago before you were 'M'ran' and before…" Arai trailed off, biting her lip as her scowl softened to a look of sadness.

M'ran didn't want to be cruel, but he said the name anyway to gauge her reaction, "R'farc."

Arai's skin seemed to drain of its natural color and almost reveal a greenish tinge, "Don't say that name. It's bad enough that he had to transfer to Great Cliffs, and now I'm going to have to see him at the gather. Weyrleader…what a joke, and the Weyrwoman is going to be with her dragon because of the clutch. There isn't going to be anybody to keep him in line. The Lord Holder is going to have a field day with him."

When Arai had first heard of Great Cliff's big mess she'd nearly burst into hysterical giggles which was much better than just dropping dead from the shock in her book. She hadn't even known R'farc had been transferred. When Great Cliffs Weyr had first been bolstered by the riders that came forward from the past they were still under strength. In an emergency measure a small contingent of riders from each of the other weyrs were sent to help them get back on their feet. Apparently, R'farc and M'ran were part of the contingent from Southern. Arai didn't have a clue until suddenly Weyrleader R'farc of brown Noranth was parading himself around like a child who'd gotten the first bubbly pie off the tray.

R'farc was a disaster. She knew that much from personal experience, and she couldn't imagine having to deal with him for four whole days. If she wasn't a master and it wasn't her duty she would march herself and Ampara straight back to the hall after that first evening, but there was also the fact that Arai stubbornly refused to let that man run her out again. She was ashamed that she had let him run her out a first time at all. There were so many friends and relatives that she'd left behind not to mention the more temperate climate, but she had convinced herself she needed a new start. It eased the blow that her newly widowed brother had agreed to come with her. Arai, despite her shame, was still sure it had been the right decision, especially for Ampara. A girl shouldn't have to grow up with her mother's ugly past hanging over her head.

It had been her own stupid mistake. M'ran had been newly impressed, and they'd come to Southern Weyr to congratulate him and she was about a turn older than Ampara at the time. It was perhaps a bit more unusual to search craftbred, but M'ran's head had always been up in the clouds more than on his studies. She hadn't been invited to go to the hatching itself since she was only a lowly apprentice, but she'd been sent along with her elders a few sevendays later for the purpose of helping copy some records so the Hall would have a duplicate copy. She'd met up with M'ran and at first things went really well. They'd been scheduled to be there a couple of sevendays as there were other projects going on besides the copying. Arai was just as curious and cocky as Ampara (if not more so), and so she figured out the lay of the weyr very quickly as it was far simpler than that of any of the others. One day she took it to exploring on her own while M'ran was in drills, and a green rose. She'd been weirdly entranced at the sight, and not being cloistered among her peers in one of the main buildings she became an unsuspecting target of R'farc and his dragon inspired amorous intentions.

M'ran hadn't realized Arai's absence until it was too late to undo the damage, and she'd gone back to the Hall shaken to the core. He had been sure that the harpers there would help her through it, but then Ampara came along nine months later. She cut off contact with him and relocated not too many turns after she had attained her journeyman status. Arai was adamant that Ampara would not be exposed to dragonriders, and in turn never suffered what she suffered. She was afraid that her child would somehow be forced to grow up too quickly, and in consequence Arai now had a daughter who refused to grow up at all. She wasn't lost on the irony of the situation, but she figured that as long as Ampara didn't rebel to the point of burning down Harper Hall then they could get past the rough spots and that her daughter could have a career unblemished by any unfortunate run-ins with dragonriders.

Arai knew that the whispers had never really died, but if the worst whispers about Ampara were that she was ungovernable adolescent then she could spend the rest of her life in peace. That wasn't so much to ask was it?

"I know, that's why I came. I was hoping you might do your duty and stick close to the Lord Holder so R'farc doesn't exacerbate the delicate situation there. You and the Lord Holder get on well with your mutual distastes so I'm hoping it wouldn't be too much to request."

She nodded a weary assent. Arai would do her duty as a master; it was no doubt expected of her already. M'ran seemed satisfied, and he stood to leave. He hated to ask her, and while he was well aware that she was on good terms with the Lord Holder ready his intent was to have her keep R'farc distracted. The brown rider had this thing about old flames, and while Arai might have to stand a few uncomfortable evenings in his presence it would allow some other things to go more smoothly.

"Now if you'd just point me in the direction of that impossible brother of yours I'll be happy to be out of your hair oh mighty mistress of the song."

"M'ran…" Arai paused like she wanted to say something, but she gave a small shake of her head, "you'll find him in his office I'd expect. The instrument work shop I'm sure you won't miss the smell of freshly cut wood and varnish."

He left, and she sat there for a few moments staring after the door wistfully. It was about a candlemark later that she realized that the words she had been tuning had flown completely out of her head.


	8. Chapter 8: The Night Before

_Author's Note:_ So…it's been a really, really, really long time. College likes to eat my time, money, and creative energy. Not only creative energy, but all forms of energy really. It's a bit of a shorter chapter, but I plan on the next one being quite long. Hopefully it will be up soon. _Note_: Updated 5.24.13 to correct 'phase' error, now reads 'faze' as is appropriate as well as missing word 'do -it- with…' in a phrase not long after.

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**Chapter 8**_**: The Night Before**_

* * *

The night before the gather the entire hall was in a festive mood except for Ampara. She was being forced to slave over her sharding duet piece with that sharding firelizard of her mother's hounding her every available moment. There were also her other sharding duties. Valtoren was also making her life completely impossible as her steady mastery of the piece ticked him off more and more, and it also distanced her from Tari more and more. On the one hand Ampara considered it good that they were fighting so much, because then Tari would be doubly sorry that she was going to miss out on Ampara's exciting adventures that would come with heaps of fame and glory and rightful recognition. The other hand was a very empty and lonely one. She supposed her mother would be happy as she was too busy for friends, trouble, or a social life.

In many ways Ampara was glad that she was once more confined to the back room of the archives where she at least dutifully pretended she was copying the hides. It was a break from Valtoren and the rest of the hall badgering her. Her arch nemesis had given her some near misses in the past few days, but it was hard to trick the master of pranks. She was glad the gather was tomorrow so she could perform and then he could dole out his 'big, scary retribution' (_yeah…right…_), and then things could go back to normal. Ampara shook her head.

_Not normal…I'll have my own life, finally. _She smiled at the thought while she doodled on the back of the hide that she'd previously used to map out Uncle Tum's exploits. There was still a persistent ink stain on the floor from where she'd dumped it on Matíne, and she got a vindictive feeling of pleasure that it was Matíne who had been forbidden to return to the back room and disturb her every time she looked at it. Justice was a sweet thing to taste the few times she managed to get a drop.

Ampara turned over the hide to reveal her rough sketch of the Western Continent. That dragonrider had whisked her uncle away on business, and she couldn't help but wonder if he'd gone to the weyr or on another one of his "missions". Since he'd gone off with the green rider she was revisiting Matíne's idea though she was loath to admit her cousin might have a point. He visited inhabited islands too, but there were other islands in between those that weren't settled as they were too small or too short on resources. The ones farthest north were often too bitterly cold in the winter. Since there were no shortage of caves in the craggy formerly volcanic island chains she supposed if she wanted to hide then north would have been the best bet, except her uncle's travels were consistently in the south. Eggs would need a warm or even hot climate.

It still didn't make sense to her. Most of the island communities were fishing communities, and sooner or later rogue dragons would be seen or heard. What were they looking for if they weren't there, and then the thought occurred to her…what if it was more looking for people who _had been_ there?

_Gone away gone ahead_

_questions die away unanswered_

_empty, open, dusty dead_

_why oh why have weyrfolk fled?_

Dragonriders could move between times that was recent history and ancient history, and so why hide something so valuable in the present time where it would be much easier to find? Still…no people of candidate age had gone missing recently as far as the gossip rings could be trusted, or in the recent past either since there weren't ever any campfire stories about suspicious disappearances like that. If they had eggs they would need candidates eventually which was why the weyr was so antsy to get them back, and she was 99.9% positive that the weyr wasn't going to let a bunch of candidates slip past their nose.

Ampara was absently running her finger along the chain of her necklace as she continued her musings. She wondered if her uncle was trying to find the thieves or if he was collecting reconnaissance so no one would get kidnapped, and Ampara wondered too how many turns they'd have to go back to avoid detection completely. She still didn't completely understand why the eggs had been stolen either. That was being kept under the tightest of lids, and there was no amount of bribing she could do to get tongues to wag. If it was some sort of grudge against the weyr then maybe they'd try to go after the weyr candidates too and then get caught.

The hand that wasn't playing with her necklace became engaged in running over the hide in completely nonsensical lines as Ampara lost herself in scenario after scenario where she heroically saved the eggs due to a valuable piece of information she discovered in her travels. She'd find the one clue to bring it all together.

There was a knock on the door.

"Shift's over kid." The gruff call distracted Ampara from her dramatic reveries, and she hopped down and dashed out of the room. She had a turn to take in the infirmary before dinner and an early bed time to be early to rise for the gather.

A couple hours passed dully while she was forced to practice over and over the minor medical techniques that they were permitted to perform. She was pretty sure that she'd never get the chance to make a tourniquet or do stitches on a live person, and so she thought it was futile to know the tactics like the back of her hand. The most exciting thing she'd ever done was de-splinter the younger kids' fingers. Tari walked in to join Ampara on time as per usual. She barely glanced at Ampara as she sat down and joined in the mechanical pantomimes that they occasionally threatened to practice on each other in more heated moments. It was until they were done and walking silently together slightly apart from one another that they said two words to each other.

Valtoren tripped Ampara, and she had to admit it was well timed and well executed as they rounded the corner of another building where the shadows were thrown. She would have gone down hard if Tari hadn't been there to grab her arm.

"Trying to trip me? How juvenile. If you're going to humiliate me you're not trying very hard."

He smirked and walked on to the dining hall.

"Are you okay?" Tari asked, looking a little scared for Ampara's safety.

"Oh so now you want to talk to me?"

"I don't want to see you get hurt you jerk."

Ampara shrugged, taking a hard fall was something hardly worth bawling over and she said so.

"What if I hadn't been here? What if you'd been alone? What would he have done to you if you'd gone down hard?" It all came out in a rush for Tari, because even though she hadn't been speaking to Ampara very much she couldn't help but noticed the increased hostility between her and Valtoren.

She laughed and shook her head. "Nothing if he knows what's good for him that's what," she winked.

Tari sighed, "Look Ampara…"

"Do you always have to be a wet blanket? Are we going now? C'mon, I'm starving." She started walking, regardless.

There was about half a second expended on a sigh that said plainly, "you're hopeless you know?" and then Tari caught up, deciding to move onto lighter topics. There was nothing like a mutual foe to strengthen friendly ties.

Valtoren had doubled around and trailed to the two girls from behind, listening to their talk. Did anything faze Ampara? Tari was apparently the smarter one since she actually seemed to be worried. Pride went before a fall though, and so the fall for Ampara would be much sweeter if she thought she didn't have anything to worry about. He was of the opinion she wouldn't act half so tough without her mother to hide behind. He'd finally gotten his chance to shine, and he wasn't going to be upstaged by some girl who was just there because her mother was a master. Ampara didn't even acknowledge his existence when he sang like he was something inferior, but he'd wipe that smug look off of her face even if he had to do it with a fist. She never lifted a finger so why should she get all of the credit? Just because she had a pretty face and some decent pipes?

It had been a simple plan. He'd bullied Ampara's former partner, Boroan, into feigning illness so he could take over, and then all he had to do was pour it on at the performance and then he'd have the attention to really go somewhere. Hopefully onward to the south and the north where it meant something to be a good harper. Maybe Valtoren's range wasn't quite up to par as Boroan's, but he had a far better control of it and then…Ampara. Everyone always had their eyes on her like a dragon had popped in from between right in the center of the room. That had just been when she was trying, and since she'd practiced he could almost hear the collective sigh after the last note finished reverberating in the air.

That was his sigh, he'd _earned_ it, or so he imagined. The problem was that while his technique wasn't lacking he didn't really put his heart into it, and Ampara would have argued that he had none to put in. She would pay, and maybe after he was done with her he'd 'convince' her to never set foot on stage again. The idea improved his mood considerably even as he had no idea that it was Ampara's precise intention to not set foot on a stage after the gather. The means to the end was quite a different story to each.

* * *

There were the usual before dinner formalities, and then just as the crowd gathered was moving in on their desert M'ran entered the dining hall and made straight for the master's table. The noisy buzz immediately hushed as they held a short and nearly silent conference. The most senior master stood and waved his hands for silence.

"Another announcement before we are dismissed for our evening activities. M'ran informs us that in light of the recent weyr tragedy that we're being provided with transportation via dragon back to the gather. As such not only will some of you be having a bit of a lie in tomorrow, but that some of our necessary arrangements need to be discussed here immediately. If my masters and senior journeymen would please adjourn to the meeting room we'll get everything sorted out, and we'll have instructions for everyone in the morning."

Ampara noticed that her mother looked quite displeased, and she had a feeling that they would be arguing long into the night about that missive. She wondered though where exactly that suggestion came from, or how high it came from. It was also peculiar that it came just after her uncle had left again, and from the dragonrider that had ferried him away.

There was a buzz long after dinner among those who were gather bound the next day about going a'dragonback. Ampara frowned though as she thought about earlier when she was supposed to be copying. She and Tari were doing the finishing touches on their packing, and Tari could easily see that Ampara was far, far away.

"Since when do you worry so much?" Tari arched and eyebrow and crossed her arms expectantly.

"It's just that…well…what's so dangerous that we suddenly need a dragon escort?"

"Well we are harpers. We're important for Pernese society isn't it their obligation to keep us from getting harried by rogues?"

"It just seems funny that's all."

"Look they're probably being overcautious so it looks like they're dedicated to doing their jobs. Isn't that important after that big slip-up of letting eggs get taken?"

"I guess so…"

"Don't you always tell me it's my job to worry? Trust me, I'm sure it's an image thing. Your imagination is just running away with you again. Now hurry up, they're going to be covering the glows soon."

"Yeah, probably." Ampara smiled and shrugged her shoulders, but even as she lay down she still wasn't convinced. For the first time since conceiving her plan she had a few doubts about it. What if she did meet rogues? It wasn't like she would be able to get away with stashing a weapon with her stuff, and she didn't even know where to find one inside the hall. There probably weren't any.

She was awake for a while before she finally rolled over and drifted off to sleep, and by then she was imagining triumph over bands of rogues with nothing but her wits to guide her. Ampara could see herself outsmarting them at every turn, and not only would she pass them by she'd get their loot too and leave them dumbfounded and without their prize. She slept soundly through the night.


	9. Chapter 9: Come Together

_Author's Note_: Hi everyone. I won't promise when the next chapter will be since I know this one has been a long time in coming, but I'll do my best to make sure it was worth the wait. I really love this fanfic and I'm committed to finishing it (and then some time permitting). Sometimes though like a good Benden wine a story just needs to mature, and so I present you chapter nine. Fair skies. _P.S._ A special shout out to the reviewers and people who have story or author alerted me during my time away, thank you so, so much. An extra special shout out to those who have the patience to stick with me. ~Mage of Roses

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**Chapter 9: **_**Come Together**_

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_"Food and drink and fun and song. The Hold flag flies: so Gather along!"_

Ampara scrubbed the sleep from her eyes trying not to scream as they began another rousing chorus of the "gather song". Tari had even joined in as everyone bustled around the dragons, whose grand entrance she had missed (her mother had seen fit to lecture her before they'd even left). She was improving her sour mood by refusing to help with the loading, and wandering among the dragons. Most of the other apprentices were keeping their distances. Ampara could only roll her eyes at their darting glances, their whispered words of caution, and how they just stared up, gaping and gawking. If she was going to claim herself as a harper then by the first egg she was not going to be afraid of the mere presence of dragons.

However, up close the wicked looking claws on the five fingered hands and the sharp predatory teeth were a lot more awe-inspiring. Hatchings gone awry were a favorite subject matter for scaring the youngest and greenest of apprentices, but even with such dangerous natural attributes at their disposal Ampara found it difficult to imagine any of these dragons hurting someone. Ferocity seemed the farthest things from their natures as they warbled, crooned, and trumpeted to one another. All of their eyes were lit up in blues and greens, and the rustling of wings or movement was all a sort of excited energy, nothing nervous or tense as their postures were all relaxed, muscles loose.

Ampara circumvented a group of harpers, loading wares to sell at a gather stall, and had the misfortune to pause in between Gigith and Fideath. They were at the head of the wing, directing the group of elder weyrlings that had been entrusted to convey the harpers to the gather; some not too far away from being inducted into fighting wings.

_See, I told you the girl with the red in her hair would be here. You can't say she doesn't have potential._

Fideath cocked his head as he considered the human below him. As a blue he considered himself above the kind of green foolishness that M'ran counted as Gigith's unique personality, but despite her quirks he did admit that her searching abilities were usually spot on… if not as refined as his own.

_She is wild. Strong yes, but unpredictable. _

Gigith snorted, and her head came down and nudged Ampara which was a shove from a human's perspective. She caught herself from falling into Fideath, and whirled around expecting a fight from Valtoren or someone else who wanted a piece of her. She just froze when it was a big green dragon head staring her down. Had she done something wrong? She didn't remember doing anything except just standing there. Did they know she was slacking? Dragons were supposed to be smart…

_She has… spunk. Your candidates are always so dull._

Fideath had been the deciding factor in Iuliana's search long before they had all come forward from past times. Dorminth (who was another blue from the past and formed the third and oldest of their present search triumvirate) had been willing to take the young girl and Fideath had strongly endorsed it despite disapproval elsewhere. They had brought her along without much hope for her success, but Xeniath obviously had found something in the young woman that brought her to what she was today. At least Iuliana was capable of keeping up appearances even if the rumors about her foisting off most of her responsibilities to the junior weyrwomen were true.

The blue turned his snout up at Gigith, looking at Ampara no further.

_Perhaps she does, but the weyr does not want troublesome candidates. I'm sure Dorminth would take your side though even if she is not a solid choice. _

Fideath huffed, thinking that they both took interest in far too many wild cards. He would have no more to say on the matter, but Gigith considered the exchange to have gone in her favor. The blue may not have approved of the girl's ways, but he had admitted she had the potential which was enough for her.

The green who was still at eye level with Ampara, unnerving the harper lass more by the second, leaned forward proffering her eye ridge to be scratched, mostly to spite Fideath and his arrogance on the matter. When it came to searching he acted like he had turned bronze.

Despite the blue color of Gigith's eyes the harper apprentice had pretty much come to the conclusion that she was somehow in trouble and that all of her plans were ruined and wondered why in Faranth's name she had ever thought this was going to work.

"You'd better scratch her eyeridge before she gets impatient and nudges you again. She nearly knocked you over the first time."

M'ran detached himself from the other side of his dragon where he had both been watching the goings on and listening in on the discussion pertaining to "the girl with the red in her hair". He reached up scratching the other ridge, showing Ampara precisely what the dragon wanted and the other hand he ran through his short, dark brown, hopeless helmet hair. It hung down in front of his pale blue eyes in a way that might have been rakish if his tastes tended towards women.

"Oh… right." She cleared her throat, exhaling her breath and scratching the ridge as she was shown, thanking Faranth she hadn't done anything except run into a very friendly dragon.

"I'm sorry if Gigith startled you. She has a tendency to alarm people with her good intentions."

M'ran leaned straightened up and dropped his arm. He was pretty tall, but he often slouched. The rider offered a smile that completed the picture of his affable and very non-threatening nature. It was Ampara's inclination to trust him even without knowing he was an old friend to the family.

"I wasn't scared. I just didn't expect…"

"To turn around and have a dragon in your face?" M'ran finished the sentence with a grin as he could tell she was struggling to find a polite way to phrase things.

"Yeah." Ampara offered a shaky laugh, trying to recover her former nonchalance with deep, even, non-panicky breathing.

"I'm M'ran by the way, rider of this green lump." He slipped around Gigith's head to offer his hand.

"Ampara, apprentice." She completed the gesture, and he wasn't disappointed when he received a firm shake.

It seemed there was an echo as her name was chorused over the heads of the other harpers by her mother, and Tari by the sound. Everything was loaded up and she had to report to her ride. She looked at Gigith, wondering if it was rude just to stop and take off, and she was sort of loath to leave. The ridge was hard, but the hide smooth under her fingers. It probably wasn't an experience she'd get twice.

"Gigith expects you to pick up where you left off sometime." M'ran winked, and Gigith crooned as Ampara smiled, gave a little bow, and then sprinted off to avoid exacerbating her mother's mood.

_You aren't usually so fond of candidates love even the ones you like best._

_I wish there was an egg. It makes no difference if Xeniath will not clutch one. Besides Fideath does not see her like I see her, but even he can tell she is strong. They would not like her because she is the girl with red in her hair, would they?_

M'ran chuckled, hailing T'ror with a wave, intending to speak to him before they mounted up.

_They wouldn't like a rider they couldn't control, and that's why T'ror picks the lackluster ones. No egg, no chance for her though so don't even think of putting ideas in her head. I know you find her exciting, but it's something for after this gather, got it?_

As much as he loved watching Gigith exercising her talent he had a lot more on his mind than searching, especially when they already had a surplus of queen candidates. A few had just passed the age mark and the others were going to greens. He also didn't need to start a row with Arai when he could barely get her talk to him in the first place, and he wasn't off to a great start by asking her to deal with R'farc either. M'ran shook his head. He hoped K'osir appreciated his delicate touches to these matters.

***

Ampara had been settled in on a brown dragon (even if they were weyrlings they were so big that she thought it had to be some sort of slur to call them dragonets though some of them might not have been fully grown yet). The rider was polite, but perfunctory. He strapped her in and then Tari behind her, proceeding to explain the mechanics of going _between_. It was as simple as thinking where they wanted to be, or at least he made it sound simple. She thought that there had to be more to it than that, and she wondered if he thought they were dumb because they were girls or lowly apprentices or both.

"The worst part about between some say is the cold, but most people are scared because all of your senses are lost to you. There is nothing. No light, no sound, and you won't even be able to feel Terth beneath you. You're strapped in so there is nothing to be afraid of, and once we've arrived at the gather you'll wonder if you were ever really between at all." His tone was flat and matter of fact, and she hoped the sensation wasn't as dull as he made it out to be.

B'lern, Terth's rider, made his way up front where it seemed like the dragonriders were having a last minute conference before takeoff.

"You don't think he'll lose us do you?" Tari asked, tugging on Ampara's sleeve, and her eyes seemed really wide with extra pale skin to match.

"Nah, I'm the main event, remember? They wouldn't give us a dragonrider who would lose us, or lose me at any rate."

Tari gave her friend a not so light punch in the arm, and Ampara turned around and scowled.

"I'm serious. Stuff like that happens."

Ampara sighted M'ran climbing astride Gigith with her mother strapped in behind him from the corner of her eye, and she smiled, thinking of course of the little moment she had shared with the green dragon. She hadn't told Tari, and why it had to be a secret she didn't know. It did give her the assurance that they weren't getting lost between anytime soon.

"So does 'lady harper extraordinaire' doubt the protectors and defenders of Pern? Isn't our _duty_ to honor and trust the dragonriders as part of the tradition of harpers, and isn't it..._Ow, Tari_!" She'd earned herself another punch in the shoulder, but Tari laughed at Ampara's good natured mocking; maybe there wasn't anything to worry about really.

They were giggling when B'lern returned, and he raised his eyebrows at the girls, not saying a word, simply strapping himself in.

Ampara had been mad that she'd missed the arrival of the dragonriders, but she wasn't disappointed when the dragons leapt off the ground, wings coming down almost in unison. The wind began to rush past her ears, and she could lean over and see the landscape unfolding below her. Tari tugged her back, fearing that Ampara would lean too far over even though they were secure in the straps. It was turning out to be a great day despite the sour beginnings. The dragons on the ground had been beautiful up close, but she noted how they stayed a uniform length apart even as they rose upward and how straight the lines seemed to be, forming the perfect 'V'. She could appreciate the lines on a map as rivers snaked below her and mountains stretched out behind them.

It didn't take very long to reach an appropriate height, and M'ran gave the signal.

_Aloft on wing, seen…_

"And then unseen," she whispered as sunlight and wind, now above the gather site, hit her in the face.

The cold still clung to the marrow of her bones, and she shivered, the fading screams of the other female (and some male apprentices) reverberating in the air. That was the first time she had ever been between, and she was definitely not looking forward to a second experience. One moment everything, and then there was nothing. She couldn't imagine staying in that abyss without being able to touch anything. She hadn't even felt Tari, whose arms were wrapped firmly around her. Her friend threatened to cut off her breath like she wanted to make sure Ampara hadn't disappeared into the void. Is that what dragonriders saw and felt when a dragon went without them in death before they actually...

She shuddered, cutting off the macabre question before it had completely formed, looking around to see how the others had taken it.

A smirk slowly bloomed on her lips as she noticed the rigid posture of her mother. Maybe she'd been one of the ones screaming, and Ampara snickered to herself at the thought. She felt sorry for M'ran it seemed Arai had them in the same death grip that Tari had on her, and she absently began to pry her off. The dragonriders swooped low over the gather as it sprawled across the hold, and she could hear faint cheers as the dragons threw long shadows over the courtyard. It was early yet, but there were many shopping and trading already. The hold's small contingent of harpers would be doing turns for the moment.

Too soon for Ampara's taste they had landed, and Tari was the first one out of the straps and off and running to help unload. She couldn't blame her friend for wanting to feel the ground under feet after being _between_, going there made one appreciate the five senses fully. She murmured thanks to B'lern and bowed to him before she strode to her mother. Ampara had been lectured on her expected etiquette, and she went to do her performance, showing off like she was a well trained flitter. Once that was finished she'd be excused, and it was easier to get it over with than have her mother hunting her all over the gather square.

"Did you have a nice trip?"

Arai gave her daughter a sharp look at the impertinent question, but she didn't say anything, simply smoothing out her gather finery. They were all decked out in a fine harper blue, but her mother was certainly the finest. Ampara didn't have to dress up until the actual performance as she was still a lowly apprentice even if she was a gifted one; besides Arai didn't trust Ampara to keep her dress nice until the evening. It was a well warranted mistrust.

"Good luck." M'ran waved at them as he passed, off to join a group of dragonriders, and it was unclear precisely who he was addressing.

They would need it. The welcoming party was approaching, and it included R'farc and the already harried looking lord holder. Both women took a deep breath, each mentally preparing for the coming onslaught.

"Master Arai don't you look lovely this morning, and your daughter is equally a vision. Aren't we lucky Lord Soriskend to have such wonderful entertainers?" The weyrleader smiled what he thought was a devastatingly charming smile, but most people found there were too many teeth in that grin for it to be trusted.

"Yes, it's true though I'm surprised you aren't more dressed up young lady. That's all my daughters could talk about the past few sevendays."

The lord holder was in his fifties, and a little gray was beginning to work its way into his dark hair and beard. He was tall, imposing when it suited the situation, and his deep baritone gave lesser men a good case of the shakes. Clean cut; the lord holder had no hair out of place or button awry.

"Ampara works alongside the other apprentices. I assure that this evening she'll be quite impressive." Arai could have been a queen dragon preening over her egg, and Ampara bore her disgust in silence.

"Well we are looking forward to this evening dear. Your uncle spoke fondly about you when he was here a few days ago. It's a shame he couldn't attend." Soriskend's lady fanned her face as she spoke, avoiding eye contact with R'farc.

She was about twenty turns Soriskend's junior, and R'farc's wandering eyes split themselves between her and Arai. Neither of the women found the attention flattering. The good lady mourned that Iuliana would not be attending, both to keep the "weyrleader" in check, and because unlike her husband she had no distaste for dragonriders at least the affluent ones. She found Arai to be drab company in comparison. Lady Ecaterina appreciated the weyrwoman's outgoing and vivacious personality, and she found the harper master too serious. Not to mention it was like speaking to her husband all over again.

Ampara had already been bored by the simpering small talk, but she perked up at the mention of her uncle. Why had Tumparan been there? Was he really wrapped up in the dragonrider business?

"My brother is always busy around this time of year. It is quite the shame, but I'm sure he gave his regrets." Arai firmly side-stepped the issue before her daughter even had a chance to form a question.

"There will be more gathers. You tell him I expect to see him at the next one." Lord Soriskend waggled a finger. He was fond of Tumparan mostly because he was fond of Arai, thinking the man had a lot of foolish notions about the flamed dragonriders.

R'farc cleared his throat, and all eyes went to him. He wasn't going to be left out of the conversation.

"But this one is so special. His one and only niece is performing. That makes it a double shame, but I wager this young lady will knock us so off our seats we'll entirely forget it. Am I right Ampara?"

Maybe her assessment was colored by all of the talk that went around, but she assumed he was only addressing her to garner attention from her mother. Flatter the child to make mummy proud and all of that rotten nonsense. He might have been handsome if he wasn't so busy kissing up; average height, built like all dragonriders seemed to be, sandy hair, green eyes, nothing particularly special that she could see really. It was disappointing actually. Ampara thought of the weyrleaders as these dynamic people, and he just seemed to be playing at it almost. He wasn't as good at pretending as she was.

_Ugh, I need to get away._

"Right, and on that note there is still plenty to be done before tonight. I had better go help out. It was a pleasure, as always, to see you again lord and lady holder, and a pleasure to meet you weyrleader." She fixed a smile on her face and bowed courteously, deciding to make a quick escape.

Ampara found it odd that her mother just nodded in agreement and didn't try and stop her. In fact it was also strange that Arai wasn't parading her more, but she wasn't going to stop to look a gift runner in the mouth. They all murmured their farewells and she was mistaken if she thought no one paid her any heed or that they were more interested in Arai than her. R'farc and M'ran both had their eyes on her as she disappeared into the gather crowd. The green rider had gone around and paid his 'hello's to the other riders, and then stood chatting with T'ror and another while he watched the interaction of all the highest ups. Arai was managing well so far, but he hoped she didn't have to face a lot of alone time with R'farc. He excused himself to keep progress of the high and mighty. T'ror and the other rider remained a while in deep discussion before they parted ways. It was going to be a long day.

***

Arai managed to keep the lord holder with her for a good part of the morning, at the same time failing to dislodge R'farc from her vicinity. Eventually, Lord Soriskend and his lady devised a way to leave her alone with the brown rider. They'd said something about meeting with the other holders, but she was pretty sure that was code for, "You get to deal with this problem." She wished he would go and be with the other dragonriders, but he had obviously been waiting for the opportunity to speak with her alone; relatively alone at any rate as he dogged her heels around the main gather square.

"You haven't changed a bit Arai. I could spot you a dragonlength away."

"I suppose I should give you my congratulations for becoming weyrleader." She practiced the art of her daughter's nonchalance, hoping some dragonrider would want to speak to him and spare her from this one on one time.

"It is rather unprecedented isn't it? It's been a tough turn of course, but things are going to be looking up soon." R'farc smiled again, and Arai began scoping the place for M'ran, hoping that maybe he'd rescue her for old time's sake.

"You have a lead then?" That would be some good news, especially if she could go back to not having to deal with the weyr.

"No, but I do have a marvelous idea that I think you should hear."

Arai raised an eyebrow, and politely waited for him to pitch his idea, using the time to start framing her refusal in a polite manner.

"See the thing is that I know this harper who has a daughter. This offspring also happens to be extremely talented and beget by a dragonrider. Not any dragonrider, but the weyrleader. I think it would be an amazing show of goodwill and a great way to boost spirits if this girl could come to the weyr for a while, and perhaps do a series of special, rousing performances."

"No."

R'farc's eyes widened and his head tilted to the side as if he couldn't comprehend the single word answer.

"If you go near Ampara I swear I will…"

"Do what? She doesn't know I am her father. I can tell you haven't told her though I think she's old enough to know the truth. And the truth is that I could really use a heartwarming little reunion of sorts to improve things after this little egg fiasco which everyone keeps trying to pin on me. She wouldn't have to stay for long."

"No, it's out the question. She is just a child, and you are not using her to make yourself look better. Just because you happened to be there doesn't make you her father. What happened to begging me to take that little trip between with you? Were you so fatherly then?" Arai pinned him with _the stare_, but he went on, too bent on his objective to let it rattle him.

"Things change and Ampara is old enough that if I had someone invite her to stand then you'd have no say in the matter. Such a talented youth wouldn't be wasted in a weyr. It would be an honor, and everyone would eat it up. I'd be more than the good guy. I'd be the great guy."

"You'd trick her like that?"

"If I have to."

"You're despicable. I can't believe you became weyrleader. You can't even take responsibility for your mistakes sixteen turns later."

"Tsk. Not very charitable words for a harper, especially when I could ruin you so easily."

_You already ruined my life once. What worse can you do?_

Arai bit her tongue, not voicing those thoughts. "There's nothing you can say or do to change my mind, and there's no point in trying to approach Ampara either. I'll tell her everything, especially this entire conversation, before I let her go off with the likes of you."

"You mean you're not jumping at the chance to have the troublesome brat off your hands? I don't remember you being quite so convicted that keeping the baby was the right thing. If your parents hadn't been involved would it be different now? I wasn't the one who left you and then slandered your good name either. I guess they aren't so hidebound in the west are they?"

"You're mistaken. You're the one who will be ruined if you try to pursue this course of action." Arai had no qualms about turning the lord holder and company entirely against him if it came down to Ampara.

"I'll give you some time to think about it. I'm sure we can come to some sort of compromise. Isn't that what you harpers are fond of? You'll have to excuse me now though. Duty calls." He bowed with a little flourish that let her know he was mocking her, and strode away.

Arai stood with her fists clenched at her sides, and her eyes boring into his back. She shook it off and summoned her firelizard, composing a small message. The face she pictured for it was M'ran's. This wasn't going to stand.

***

Ampara roved the gather grounds from one end to the other, but she didn't have anything to spend and nothing that particularly caught her eye more than the trinket already around her neck. She'd gotten separated from Tari, but she didn't go seek her out. They'd both be much happier if Ampara wasn't tapping her foot while her friend "oh'd" and "ah'd" over each and every thing at every stall. Not to mention there would be all of the other apprentices nipping on their heels, and she'd had enough pointless chatter to last her a lifetime. Not to mention she didn't need to start another fight with her friend.

She wandered out to the fields where the runners and herdbeasts were fenced in, close enough to the race track to hear the cheers. A fence post seemed as good a back rest as any, and she sat, stretching her legs out before her. There was no place she had to be, and no one to bother her. Not to mention she could scope out her escape routes. The best part was that if Valtoren was lying in wait for her then he would be unlikely to come all the way out to the field to find her. Unlike the hall where there was no place to get away to the hold had several places she could escape to for a quiet moment. Maybe she'd just spend the remainder of the gather in this spot as much as possible. She crossed her arms behind her head, and closed her eyes. It seemed idyllic.

Peace was fleeting, and Ampara began to feel like she was being watched. She cracked an eyelid open, and scanned the area, half expecting to see Gigith's head looming over her again or something like that. After a few moments she was satisfied, not seeing anybody, and she closed her eye again. The feeling persisted. Ampara made a noise in the back of her throat that sounded something like a growl, and her eyes snapped open she turned her head, scanning the area around her closely. There weren't many places to hide, but maybe Valtoren had followed her. She told herself to stop being so paranoid, but she couldn't shrug the feeling off. A tall shadow fell over her then, and she looked up, shielding her eyes against the sun.

It was a long way up to look, but she relaxed a little. He was dressed in finery above a normal holder, probably a lord on the way to his races. Maybe he'd been approaching from behind, and she hadn't seen him though obviously he'd be watching her to make sure not to step on her (stepping on a harper had to be some sort of insult). Ampara changed her assessment; surely he was too young to be more than an older son of a lord.

"Did you lose something harper? And aren't you a little far removed from the gather anyway?" She was a bit surprised that his tone was so quiet, and a little wary that he was giving her the time of day.

She shrugged, "Not my idea of fun, and no I didn't lose something… just a strange feeling."

"So your idea of fun is sitting by the fence? That is quite a strange thing." He grinned, and she scowled, forgetting that she was supposed to be on her best behavior. She didn't like being teased unless it was Tumparan doing the joking.

A laugh bubbled up, caused by her expression, and Ampara stood up, intending to leave before she said something that got her in trouble. The man threw up his hands, and motioned for her to stop, though she could tell mirth was still lurking in his warm, brown eyes.

"I'm sorry. It's just unusual to find harpers wandering around by themselves. I thought girls traveled in herds especially." He leaned against the fence, reducing his height some, putting himself more at her level.

"You're also pretty quiet for a harper."

"I'm not a beast. I don't herd, and you talk a lot for someone who hasn't properly introduced himself." Ampara crossed her arms, and leaned against the fence also, endeavoring to remain civil though she didn't much like the idea of being toyed with.

She briefly had an appreciation for her fellow crafters; being unable to leave and unwilling to stay yet having to remain pleasant was not easy, nor was it satisfying.

"Who I am isn't important." A brief flash of irritation passed over his face, and she wondered what she'd stirred up.

"Oh really? I think your finery begs to differ. If you want to pretend to be nobody you're going about it entirely the wrong way."

"You're going about being alone entirely the wrong way. If you really didn't want any company you should have just walked away."

"I…" Ampara was lost for words. _He is so infuriating!_ "I was here first, and… even if I don't want to be alone it doesn't mean I want your company."

He laughed at her, again. She wondered what precisely he found so amusing about her, and she wished there was some way she could wipe the mirth off his face. The answer, "with her fist," had a nice ring to it.

The man stood tall once more, straightening his clothes for a moment.

"We'll see about that. Until tonight, green eyes."

_Green eyes? What kind of nickname is that?_ Ampara couldn't help but just stare at the man as he left, that had been bizarre. Her face flushed, and she fisted her hands.

"Don't you give me pet names I don't want, and you'd better not tell me I'm cute when I'm angry either." She shouted after him, smacking her fist down on top of the fence post which she regretted a moment later as her hand stung.

He didn't turn back, and Ampara sighed and slumped, feeling sulky, knowing she hadn't won that battle, wondering what by the first dragon that had been about anyway. Who was he? Better yet, why had she let him provoke her? The poor, abused fence post received a kick next as the annoyed harper attempted to figure it out. She supposed she could run after him, but assumed he was just going to continue to be obstinate about it. It would be easier to wait.

_Until tonight, then._


	10. Chapter 10: And Your Bird Can Sing

_Authors Note:_ As always, thanks for sticking with me. Even through extremely long school induced delays (finally graduated, huzzah!), and even more work related ones (at least I hope you haven't entirely given up on me, thank goodness for story alerts eh?) plus I moved. Talk about crazy busy! :) Ready. Set. Read (and review! Presuming you haven't all died from old age, sorry about all of the gray you may have accumulated whilst waiting!). Cheers ~Mage of Roses

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**Chapter 10: **_**And Your Bird Can Sing**_

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Ampara had no legitimate reason to be nervous, but the feeling was making her snappish and irritable, more so than usual. Her interaction with that man from earlier was nagging at the back of her mind (especially the part where she hadn't had the upper hand, at all), and her dress was _green_. She was supposed to give the most spectacular performance of her life, fitting as it was to be her last before she disappeared into the great unknown to have her _own_ adventures (wiping Valtoren's nose in her prowess to boot before getting away), and her mother had the nerve to commission a _green_ dress. The last sharding thing she needed was bad luck, and wearing that color was like begging thread to fall right on top of your head. Ask any Pernese man or woman and he or she would tell you the same.

"Nonsense, it brings out the color of your eyes. You'll be fine." Arai's words of "comfort" flitted through her daughter's mind even as they stood back stage together and the harper master fussed with the dress.

"But…"

"Hush, like I said, it brings out your eyes, and that's just a silly superstition. You're old enough to know better Ampara; not some green apprentice… pardon the pun."

Ampara 'hmph'd' and scrunched up her nose, causing her mother to tell her to, "Stop making silly expressions, your face will be stuck that way," and she made sure to stick her tongue out at her dear old mum once her back was turned.

It was dark green too; no mistaking it for anything other than what it was (no hiding it either). Her tanned flesh peeked through the tops of the sleeves where a few jeweled studs held the fabric together, forgoing the traditional underarm seam, flaring outward at the wrists. The neck was in a 'v' shape, as was the fashion, and she was glad it was not as severe as many she'd seen. There was a belt of some translucent sea green material that fell gently about the hips, and then another large swath that hugged the skirt from the knee down; the point of interest for her mother's fussing. She kept rearranging how the fabric fell, or trying to augment how much green showed between the two pieces. Arai also was fond of poking her with the jeweled pin holding it all together at the waist; the very sharp pin. Shard it all, didn't the woman have anything better to do than… than poke her to death? Healers were less cruel with their needlethorn.

The point, really, was that she was singing about a green dragonrider, in a green dress, happened to have green eyes, and supposed her luck could only be more tainted by the color if they'd decided to powder her face to match. However, Tari's eyes had been wider than bubbly pies since she'd first seen her friend in costume, and that almost made up for the unfortunate choice in color. On the flipside, she was getting a lot of those reactions, and then the dress suddenly seemed itchy or too tight or she was sweating too much which was followed by her mother fussing more. Ampara wrung her hands, tapping one foot as time slowed to a standstill. She would have rather had to go between again than endure all this waiting, welcoming the deep cold to stave off the roiling hot pit her stomach had become as well as the silence to keep out the rustling, fussing, murmuring, whispering, shouting, and all the rest.

Arai stepped away to take out her own peevish mood on others, finally (thank Faranth), and Tari seized the moment to approach her friend.

"You look so elegant, like a lady holder or a weyrwoman!" Tari was all bright and beaming, and Ampara couldn't bring herself to complain. She would make up for having to wear all of this fine frippery later.

Besides, it would be better to wait until after the performance and then blame the dress for all of her mistakes.

The harper apprentice licked her lips, "I guess my mother must have gotten the idea from all the ones she's acquainted with."

"Are you nervous? Of all people…" Tari crossed her arms, brow furrowing as she appraised her sweaty-palmed friend. "I've seen you take punches while looking bored, and this frightens you?"

"I'm just anxious to get it over with is all. We've only practiced every day and every sevenday since the beginning of time. What is there to be nervous about?" Ampara glanced back at the assembled singers, making sure Valtoren was still in the same spot her eyes had left him in; the same spot as every other time.

"Oh… so you're afraid of _him_. What happened to all of that unflappable confidence?" Tari's –I told you so- tone wasn't lost on Ampara, and her hand wringing turned to fist clenching.

"I'm not afraid of him, and he'd have to cut out my tongue to stop me from singing anyway."

Her friend's nose wrinkled, "That's gross Ampara. Does that mean you're afraid he'll sound better than you?"

The death glare aimed at Tari was burning into her back even after she had turned 'round and made it part way back to her proper place, but she couldn't quite wipe away her smug smirk. Kindling Ampara's rage generally wasn't a smart idea, but it was a sure cure for any nerves.

Arai had flustered as many people as she could before being forcefully shooed by the conductor, and so she reluctantly returned to her place at the raised table where all the others of high rank were chatting merrily. She would have done the work herself, but she knew Ampara loved nothing better than an "audience" for her antics. Not to mention while tuning and playing and singing came to her as easily as breathing, keeping time for a large group wasn't precisely her forte. She picked at the table cloth, waiting for the performance to start. Of course she had kept an eye on the practices, but there was always the fear that something terrible would happen at the last moment. Ampara being the cause of it too was something to contend with, but Arai had been encouraged by the progress reports of the practices; perhaps there was hope yet that her daughter wasn't entirely incorrigible. Maybe the new regimen had done some good, or maybe this phase, as many people harper and holder alike had reassured her that such things simply passed in time, was in its death throes. Three cheers for the end of the rebellion then.

"You seem ill at ease Master Arai." R'farc had appeared seemingly from nowhere with a glass of wine gripped in his hand, and she noted his already flushed cheeks. If he kept up then he'd find himself losing face more than he already had at the gather.

"Just anxious for the performance to begin."

"Have you thought anymore about our discussion?" He leaned in, she could smell the wine on his breath, speaking softly, and she answered with equal quiet to keep the discussion out of earshot from the merriment of others at the table.

"My answer still stands as it was, and you are mistaken if you think any length of time will change my mind. I am too busy to consider such foolish requests at length, especially any further than they require."

"Hmph, I knew you were going to be difficult I just hadn't imagined how difficult."

"I suppose you haven't talked it over with your weyrwoman either? Not even she would agree with the lengths you are attempting to achieve. If you wish to have good terms with the elite in Pern's society for the remainder of your weyrleadership I think you should drop the matter R'farc and move on to your next farfetched and ill conceived plan to reclaim your glory. May I suggest you begin with finding the eggs that were stolen from under your nose?"

Arai had intentionally added the cruel reminder of his failure as leader. It wasn't wise to provoke anyone, much less a weyrleader no matter the color of his dragon, but she had listened to enough foolishness. It was bad enough she had one troublesome child to deal with, another was asking far too much of her patience even for M'ran's sake. He wanted her to smooth things over between R'farc and Lord Soriskend, but bringing Ampara into the middle of it was entirely out of the question. She had been furious when her firelizard to him had gone unanswered, and she'd been unable to track him down in the meantime no matter whom she had interrogated or how much she had her firelizard spy. There had been too much to do for Arai to make a proper foot search herself, and in the end she was left wringing her hands over the performance and what R'farc might try and do. Some small part of her hoped that M'ran had whisked off to the weyrwoman in hope of exerting control over her fellow lead, but most of her sincerely refused to believe he'd do any such thing. Dragonriders were contrary and unreliable and obviously were too wrapped up in their own concerns to bother with a single harper's troubles.

R'farc's ruddy cheeks darkened a few shades and he scowled, Arai found it more comical than intimidating, and he made excuses to go speak with his wingleaders and perhaps join them in their drinking. She made the mistake of thinking that would be the end of him for the evening, dismissing him from her thoughts as a hush fell over the crowd, singers filing onto the large gather stage that had been set up in the frenzy of hold activity during the days previous to the celebration. The harper master leaned forward, elbows on the table, an untouched glass of wine shunted to the side in favor of imbibing the performance. The pull of a string was all that was required to unmask the glows to chase away the dark of the growing twilight, and a murmur went through the crowd as the singers were scrutinized and appraised.

The conductor cleared his throat, "Hem, hem, hem," tapping his baton against the stand holding the musical score, and then he signaled the beginning with a strong downward hand motion.

It would be difficult for an untrained ear to follow the more delicate counter melodies and unusual harmonies, but Arai was generally a crowd pleaser, something for everyone. It was perhaps premature to be congratulating herself so early into the work, but it was a rush to hear what had first only been ragged scribbles on a spare bit of hide in its final stage. The chorus started low and haunting, the struggling, failing western weyr on its last leg in no shape to stave off thread. Then a reckless acceleration and staccato notes as the green rider took the daring plunge into the past to beg for help when no other weyrs on Pern had dragons to spare, especially a queen egg, operating under strength themselves, everyone scrambling to survive, and then the beginning of tremulous hope was when the choir parted and Ampara stepped forward to deliver the solo.

That, too, had been Arai's idea. A little flair of the dramatic to keep Ampara back out of the eye of the crowd until the moment she began to truly sing. Arai was conducting in small motions, swirling the air above the table just missing her wine glass each time as she followed her daughter's part. The young man, Valtoren, had the argument, working against the tremulous hope before they came together in resolution to step forward. All that was left was to lead the chorus into the bright new dawn, and then there was a fighting chance for the future a final swell and then a sudden cut off.

The hairs on her arms were raised just thinking about it, and she could see by the hush of the crowd and then the thunderous applause she had achieved a masterpiece. People who had been sitting were on their feet, and the air was alive with roaring approval. Even the dragons had picked up on their rider's emotions judging from the deafening cacophony of sound. Arai leaned back and exhaled; since it was done she'd have to find some way to reward Ampara. Together they had outdone the harper master's expectations, and for that she was truly grateful.

Ampara felt as if she'd barely taken breath the entire time, forcing out the little bits of air trapped inside into something that she could barely capture with hearing, too focused on 'living her role' as it were. At the end there was perhaps a split second of silence where she didn't dare inhale, and then the crowd and their roar began to bleed in, crescendoing until her ears were full of white noise. She was too busy laughing and crying to think for a few moments, high on the moment, swept away on the current of success. There was some small part of her, a tiny voice at the back of her mind that thought anything was worth a score of these moments. She could perhaps be tempted to stay behind and bleed for her mastery by submitting to her mother's stringent demands and expectations, and that she could own the hearts of any audience in a way no other person could, perhaps even in a way her mother could not.

Of course, it was easy to be drunk on the applause and acclaim, and as the moment stretched onward that part of her began to wane again. The remembrance of all the fighting and clashing of wills grating on the moment, letting her despair bleed in. She had to run… didn't she? This wasn't really _her_ life; just another piece of her mother's choreography.

Ampara's eyes picked out her mother, standing tall and proud but not lost in the moment like every other holder, crafter, and dragonrider in attendance. She felt the cold certainty creep into her insides that this was only the first of many big pushes; a trap to keep her in until she woke up one morning and scratched away the gold that covered the cold dark metal keeping her in.

_Ampara the cry baby… maybe that's all you really are is a baby, a little brat scared of growing up?_

No, that wasn't it. The sounds were confusing her, twisting her perception. Ampara felt a cold sweat break out on her brow. It was imperative that she get off stage. She didn't want to drag out the bowing and curtseying, and she began to flee, not quite grasping that her feet were already moving her away from the center of the stage and out of the public eye. Once she was back down on the ground everything would be fine. She'd just be another girl in a dress.

Her headlong flight into the safety and anonymity of the crowd was stymied as she abruptly hit a tall shape that was blocking her path. The crowd was quieting again, and Ampara panicked. She didn't want to make a speech or take another bow, nor did she want to be forced to share the temporary glory with Valtoren.

When she looked up the last thing she expected to see was the weyrleader, maybe her mother or the lord holder for a little congratulatory speech. This wasn't part of the show. It had been very straightforward; take places, wait for lights, wait for cue, count the beats, take some bows, and then run from the stage. This was not something anyone had planned for. There was an excited buzz in the crowd as the seconds ticked by at what seemed like a candlemark at a time for Ampara. What on Pern was happening? She stared up with wide eyes, trying to find meaning in the madness.

R'farc had come to an executive decision to seize the moment while the going was good. He'd picked his way through the crowd once everyone had become enraptured, and while everyone had given raucous approval he'd clambered up on stage and made his way to the heart of this creative enterprise; Ampara, his "long lost" daughter. The world swam a bit before his eyes. A few drinks had done a lot to fortify this idea and his position in his mind. He'd been swallowing gulps of wine on his way up.

_Now or never old lad, and hasn't everyone always complimented your quick to action attitude?_

Yes, everything was perfect, or it would be once he laid it out for the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please, your attention!" He called out, not quite realizing his odd actions had already awarded him more than the attention he was asking for, and as the crowd pressed in closer they also prevented the frantic Arai from getting up to the stage to stop R'farc from ruining everything in the most spectacular and public of ways. If she could get up there, and put the right spin on things…if she'd been paying closer attention instead of speaking to the lord holder he wouldn't have made it up there at all.

"Thank you." He earned a quiet laugh as he paused to survey the crowd, and wrap an arm around Ampara, crushing the confused and hapless harper apprentice to his side, preventing any escape though she seemed too surprised to do anything more than stare. Probably in awe, he was the weyrleader after all, and was she in for an even bigger surprise.

"This young woman has dazzled us tonight, wouldn't you agree?" The audience roared, a collective 'yea' for what was certain to be considered one of the top performances of the season, a rousing showcase of the hall's finest young talents.

"Yes, yes. She has a gift, a very special gift, something that could be shared and should be shared with all of Pern!"

Arai's protests were lost in the joyous shouting and foot stomping that R'frac's impromptu speech, and the momentum was gathering to a pitch where even the weyrleader was having trouble making his message heard over the crowd. The lord holder was up on his feet shouting too, but judging by the waving of his arms and the frightened look on his lady's face his attitude was less than convivial. Soriskend was trying to get his personnel or some dragonriders that weren't drunk up on stage to remove that fool before he did something that made his favorite master harper unhappy. He would be flamed if that dimglow ruined the atmosphere of his gather.

R'farc had moved quickly, and the crowd had locked down the area around the stage by sheer bulk. He was going to manage to say something that Arai and Soriskend were going to be extremely displeased with, because there was no way anybody was going to make it through the crowd and stop him before it was too late.

"And I think… I think she ought to start by coming to the weyr. Such talent could be put to great use, and as some know this girl… that this girl is of my own flesh and blood, but now everyone knows that I show no favoritism, because she has proved beyond any doubt that she has skill beyond…"

The weyrleader was forced to pause, because he had stirred the crowd so he could barely hear himself think; not so much, though, that he wasn't pleased with himself for this little announcement he'd decided to make. However, there was one thing that would redirect the crowd's attention no matter what had just been said, and it wasn't an irate lord holder or fuming harper master.

The sudden, looming, dragon-shaped shadow over the crowd elicited both silence and screeching, especially when the bronze swooped low, hide gleaming in the glow light, to allow his rider to jump onto the stage. There were a few whispered words while the dragon departed to find a landing space, and R'farc's face stretched into an even wider grin.

"I apologize to you all; holders, crafters, and riders alike. It seems I am needed to preside over the beginnings of a successful hatching of Xeniath's clutch. Please excuse us, and harpers give us some celebratory music and a round of wine for all on the weyr!" The weyrleader announced, eclipsing his previous statement by unintentionally revisiting the hot topic of weyr controversy, and he was shuffled off stage, presumably reconvening with Noranth to be swiftly conveyed to the weyr.

The harpers, meanwhile, obliged the request, striking up a popular and energetic dance tune while R'farc made haste to get to the weyr before any dragonets started shelling. The earlier uproar among the dragons had been less to do with a successful ballad, and more along the lines of an eminent hatching of eggs. Holders would find that many of the dragons had already disappeared for the evening, only to return once the hatching festivities had wound down which might be longer for some than for others.

Ampara's limbs were frozen as if she'd spent a long turn between, flesh turning to ice and the marrow of her bones a fine filament of snowflakes. It was a surprise that when the bronze rider gripped her by the elbow to guide her off of the stage she simply didn't shatter into a shower of sparkling ice diamonds. Her mind was still working out what to do with what _he _had said. Was it a joke? A trick? A fancy of her wild imagination? A dream? Stiff, halting steps carried her off the stage down to ground level where she remembered to take a long shuddering breath, wishing to rid herself of the sick knot in her stomach. _Flesh and blood… _It echoed in her mind like the tolling of a bell that wouldn't stop clanging.

"So the weyr, huh? Sounds so exciting!" Ampara blinked, and she just barely registered the excited, girlish squealing of a throng of some of the hold's finest daughters (or most finely dressed anyway).

The bronze rider, still at her side though ignored in her mental frenzy, cleared his throat to speak, but the giddy grating of shrill, uppity girls was enough to snap the harper lass back to her senses. That sort of irritation could not be ignored.

"Just wishful thinking and I haven't even attained my journeyman rank yet. We're already starting rehearsals for the next performance. Maybe when I'm older, but it would be much too difficult to abandon my studies right now, walking the tables could be very close and I just couldn't let my concentration waver so. I could set myself back a whole turn…" She cut in before he could articulate an alternate explanation, thinking on her feet, and, fortunately, her face was already quite warm so she didn't have to pretend to blush as if she was truly embarrassed to have to decline.

"The masters you know… they're very serious about being well-rounded before attempting to strike out on your own. They wouldn't dream of setting their pupils off on the wrong track." Ampara widened her eyes, trying to make herself seem enraptured by the wisdom of her elders. _What tripe._

"And is R'farc… is he really your father?" Perhaps it was Ampara's senses playing tricks on her, but the girl asking seemed to have an over large nose perfect for sticking into the business of others… maybe she was an acquaintance of dear cousin Matíne.

She giggled, drawing on the surrealistic quality of her evening for some genuine merriment at her ridiculous predicament.

"He misspoke was all," Ampara covered her mouth to feign abashment at a creeping grin, "He was into the wine I think," she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper which suggested secrecy even though she knew the gossip would spread faster than a thread infestation, "but no, he's certainly not, I think I moved him so much that he was simply expressing a fondness and muddled his words."

The harper apprentice covered her heart, and barked a short laugh for added effect, hoping to appear touched yet the tiniest bit contemptuous at the same time.

It was mere seconds before their backs were retreating into the crowd to relate the juicy bit of gossip that the weyrleader was truly a drunk ninny, just as they had always surmised, and that though well-meaning it would be better to have a proper journeyman go to the weyr as taking students out of the learning environment was simply absurd. If there was one thing that came natural to her as a harper, besides the singing part, it was the lying through her teeth to achieve a desired goal bit. In this case, she wanted the spectacle to be forgotten as quickly as possible. Let them go on about dragon eggs, and forget that Harper Ampara might or might not be of dubious origins. Besides… there was no way she could run away if she didn't craft herself back into an anonymous entity. Everyone's eyes would be seeking her out in the crowd just to pester her.

"Good cover. I would have just left it at 'he's a drunken fool', but your details will really make the rumor sparkle. By tomorrow you'll be the side act to the drunken and incompetent man who was already dimglow enough to lose dragon eggs. I would applaud you, but I'm not sure if it's good to condone such duplicity in someone your age."

Ampara started, having forgotten her dragonrider companion once again, she looked at her feet, thinking she needed to apologize for being rude by at least thanking him for getting her off that stage when she needed a kick to get her started. She turned her head, and jumped away from him, reclaiming her arm as if she had been burnt.

"_You._" Ampara narrowed her gaze, finding herself standing next to none other than the young man that she'd run into at the field earlier. She'd missed her prediction by a mark or two; a bronze rider. It perfectly explained the arrogance. Why had he been so coy earlier? Yet that had been quite the candid remark about his weyrleader.

"Who are you? And…" There were so many questions bubbling to the surface she couldn't utter as her curiosity frothed over.

Her features suddenly darkened, mouth frowning and lips tightening down into a thin line, turning her face into a fearsome scowl. "And what do you mean someone my age? I'm not some 'brat. Besides I'm sure you know as a _bronze rider _that harpers aren't just for pretty singing voices."

The dragonrider's cheek twitched. It was better for both of them that he kept his almost smile under a tight lid.

"I apologize." He bent his back in a gentle bow, and offered his arm to her.

Ampara studied him, and decided after a moment of intense scrutiny that she could bear his company for a bit longer if at least to get a few answers. She looped her arm with his, and allowed him to lead her into the dancing. No matter what happened she didn't want to be found by her mother or the lord holder or anyone of consequence, blending in with the other dancers worked entirely to her advantage. She hoped the scrambling departure of the dragonriders would be a distraction enough so she'd be forgotten about. Soriskend would be relieved to have him gone and probably spend the rest of the evening recounting that he'd always known the man was a complete dimglow. The harper apprentice did not savor the coming exchange of words with her mother.

"I'm sorry about R'farc for what it's worth, but I think something your mother said sent him over the edge." He nodded his head, and Ampara saw a brief flash of her mother through the swirling dresses, and a moment later she was out of sight as the dancers twirled and reformed time and time again.

Ampara stood on a precipice. _Flesh and blood…_ The words made her blood run cold, and as she stared up at him on that stage when he uttered those words, something inside her just knew. Earlier in the day she had dismissed him entirely as something that wasn't a part of her world, but those eyes… the color. No one on her mother's side had eyes like that. Of course, it could have been a coincidence, and perhaps the circumstances were something like what she had just lied about. The feeling was lurking, nagging her in the gut, however, that she was standing on a truth she'd never really paused to consider.

It might seem strange that Ampara would never question her parentage beyond her mother, but it was hardly unusual for children to be unfamiliar with both parents in a society that promoted fostering. She had had always operated under the basic presumption that her father was some sort of harper her mother had been indiscrete with and after some sort of falling out they'd come to the Western Continent; hurt pride and all of that. That was the type of gossip that got bandied around the dormitories by apprentices and journeyman ranks no matter if you could provide five generations of proof towards your lineage. Those were harpers to Ampara though, making stories because the truth was too boring one way or the other. Her mother had never placed any importance on a father figure, and she'd never really considered it a necessity to dig around for an answer. The explanation had been, seemingly, so basic and obvious that it hadn't been of any sort of curiosity to her. Ampara had attributed her mother's reluctance to speak about it to a number of theories, but none worth having one of their famous shows of fury over. She'd been too busy planning the next terror for her cousin or trying to skip classes or any number of the bad to worse things she'd done at her time at the hall.

"So quiet, usually if I dance with someone who isn't weyrbred I get a few hundred questions and about a second to answer each of them."

"Well… I'd hate to be duplicitous and feign interest." She managed a small half-smile, but couldn't shake off her preoccupation.

"Ha. Are you naturally this blunt or have I done something wrong?" His smile came easily, and she wondered if he was trying to distract her from the question she was weighing whether or not to ask. Did he even have the answer?

"For starters you could tell me who you really are. It's impolite to try and pull the wool over a harper's eyes."

"I could tell you that it's incredibly impolite that you haven't thanked me yet for helping you out and withhold the information as a consequence," a teasing twinkle came into his blue eyes, something reminiscent of her uncle, "but, fortunately for you, dragonriders are bound by honor and duty and so on and so forth."

"Mmmhmm, and?"

"And, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." He twirled her then, and she was afraid that he'd let go and disappear and she wouldn't be any further with him or that question that was still burning at the back of her mind.

However, the bronze rider reeled her back in, and Ampara was alarmed when she ended up in his arms. They had been maintaining a polite distance, but in her distracted state she'd been casual, not holding herself completely aloof as she might have otherwise. She looked up into his eyes, lips slightly parted, as she fumbled for something smart to say; a cold turn of phrase that would make him want to back off. As it turned out, their camouflage had only been effective for so long. She blamed the sharding _green_ dress.

"K'osir!"

Arai had found them, and she had a murderous look on her face. Ampara cursed under her breath, earning a bemused look from… _K'osir?_

"No way, you can't be," the harper apprenticed hissed at him, wishing that he'd lead them back into the crowd before her mother completed her trajectory and they were both at her mercy.

He shrugged, his smirk holding an inherent 'I told you so,' that caused Ampara to frown.

"Aren't important people supposed to be older, wiser, and ruggedly handsome?"

"What's wrong with being important, young, witty, and dashingly handsome?"

"Who said you were handsome at all?" Ampara retorted, succeeding just barely at keeping a serious face.

"Harsh. And brave words to the man who could have been weyrleader."

"Apologies wingleader K'osir, former consort of the onetime Junior Weyrwoman Iuliana, but if my mother yells at someone like he or she is an errant weyrbrat I don't fear giving him or her the same lip I give the dear 'ole harper master on most occasions."

"Well two things before she beheads me and sends my remains as a warning to the illustrious aforementioned weyrwoman."

K'osir leaned in close, speaking directly in Ampara's ear to be heard clearly so as not to be misunderstood.

"One, R'farc was telling the truth, but I wouldn't be too worried about your sire. You defused the situation, and even those who know it to be the truth or take it as the truth will realize that you are the boring side note in his lackluster reign as weyrleader. There are plenty of bronze riders that are so keen to replace him that what happened once isn't going to happen a second time." He moved his head away from her ear, thinking it was better she knew the truth before she confronted Arai even if the woman wanted to deny it.

"And two?"

"Secondly…" Ampara could feel his breath on her cheek. He was so close… she was rarely this close with any one person. Even at her angriest she rarely got right up close and personal with her own mother.

"K'osir!" The moment dissolved when her mother yanked her and the dragonrider apart. Despite the look of pure rage on Arai's face, the one usually reserved Ampara at her most rotten, she must have been running on some innate sense of propriety, because instead of laying hands on the dragonrider it was Ampara who was dragged out of his grasp and shoved to the side.

A soft curse, "Shards," was all he managed before he was facing the intimidating harper master, leaving the apprentice wondering what else he had wanted to say. They'd used up the precious few moments they had left.

"Wait, it wasn't his fault, don't take it out on him." The harper lass stepped in between her mother and the object of her rage. She could show her gratitude by getting her mother to shout at her instead.

"Ampara this isn't the time to be stubborn." Arai snapped, trying to pull her daughter back out of the way, but the girl's feet were firmly planted this time.

"Well, the way I hear it this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't gotten him riled up." Obviously, she would counter by being as obstinate as possible.

"I've had enough of interfering dragonriders." The snarl in the tone was cold and as fierce as any wild feline, and the harper master's eyes zeroed in just as coolly on her intended prey.

"I've had enough of _you_ barging into my evening. I swear by Faranth that I will stand here and start screaming threadfall if you don't leave us alone right now."

They were already attracting some odd glances, and she knew that her mother wouldn't want another scene with everything that had just happened. Ampara and Arai stared each other down; anyone stepping between them ran the risk of bursting into flame. Each stood and weighed the consequences of the other relenting and/or making good on said threat. The harper master seemed for a brief moment as if the tautness in her posture was going to give way in a screaming fit of her own, causing Ampara to begin to open her mouth to howl just as ferociously in response. It ended when Arai spun around and promptly marched off. Ampara zipped her lip, shoulders sagging wearily. She wondered if this was how her mother tended to feel the previous times they'd reached such an impasse.

"Now what was it that you-?" But K'osir had slipped away.

She was a bit hurt though not entirely surprised. After all, she was just an apprentice, and he was simply doing his duty and looking after the weyr's problem, but he could have at least said good-bye.

Ampara maneuvered carefully through the crowd, repeating what she'd said before if anyone bothered to try and inquire after what happened on stage. She mostly tried to avoid human contact, slipping away from the dancers through the wallflowers on the sidelines. It was easy to hurry through the gather stalls, there wasn't much business going on as everyone was dancing, and reach her quarters in the hold. She and Tari were sharing of course, but the place would be deserted for a while yet, making getting out of her dress easier said than done; however, she wanted it off and neatly placed in her mother's room so there would be no chances and no excuses for talking. All Ampara wanted were comfortable clothes, and to lie down and think, everything was still spinning.

It was easy to decide that she didn't care about R'farc. He was worse than useless, and his offer was simply something to set off her mother. If she hadn't been planning on going away she might have reveled in the opportunities for chaos; a dozen different and progressively sordid details for the masses instead of covering for herself and Arai. Ampara didn't really see why it was so much of a big deal, except knowing her mother's dislike maybe she thought her daughter would get the notion to run off to the dragons. Meeting dragonriders, maybe solving their egg problems, had been part of her ideas of adventure, but running to the weyr had never been on the table. They would return her to the hold since they got on so well with the harpers, and she didn't see impression as an escape either. Sure everyone whispered about how it was an experience that no number of words could describe, but then you were stuck there. It was at best a temporary freedom while thread fell, maybe during a pass it would be worth it. She wanted to do what she pleased when she pleased to do it, being her own master was the best solution.

Ampara rolled over, facing the stone wall and its window inset, thinking that maybe she'd just leave that night. Now that her mother had more embarrassment than she could handle to deal with she'd be even less likely to notice the absence of her daughter, and Ampara felt so tired of playing by everyone else's rules.


	11. Chapter 11: A Hard Day's Night

_Author's Note: _Thanks as always for your patience, your willingness to read, and reviews (constructive criticism is always welcome 3). I'm so lucky to have you all even though it takes me quite a bit of time between chapters, especially between chapters nine and ten. So thank you, thank you, and thank you again for being here! Everyone interested in writing better stories should read **Nuts and Bolts: "Thought" Verbs**_by Chuck Palahniuk_. Cheers! ~Mage of Roses

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**Chapter 11: **_**A Hard Day's Night**_

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Ampara stayed in bed, fidgeting. Her finger traced circles on the sheets, stilling and going limp when she heard Tari shift or heard the door creak as someone checked in on them. The candlemarks dragged on and her eyelids drooped, but she stared at the slightly cracked window. Her pack was under the bed, ready to go. She listened for anything and everything; the lord holder's watch, people getting up to do the necessary, the incessant looking in on her well-being, and any other passersby. It was a gather, things would never entirely settle, but things needed to be as calm as possible before she skipped her stone and disturbed the surface.

The rays from Belior and Timor, their light wan combined, stretched across the floor, and when by some accounts it was either really, really late or disgustingly early she made her move. It was easy really. The window was already open, and sliding it that extra bit open was simple. The thunderous creaking and squeaking made her freeze, and for several moments her breathing was quick and shallow, green eyes darting, and her slender hand poised to drop the pack she had cradled to her chest. Silence stretched, and with the grace of a feline she vaulted out the window, landing lightly on the dirt, and she fled into the shadows, hugging them as best she could.

Ampara paused, sucking in some deep breaths, trying to still the staccato beating of her heart so she could listen once more.

_I'm finally doing it. Finally, finally._

In the dark she grinned. Her outfit consisted of brown leggings, a linen shirt, and a wherhide jacket; no one would pay her much heed, especially once she slipped out of the courtyard proper. She slung her pack over her shoulder, starting off at a quick march, keeping her eyes peeled for anyone who would give her trouble; however, the way was clear whether she had gotten lucky and slipped out during a change of the guard or if the gates were just not particularly well guarded this evening.

The gather stalls were closed and silent, tent flaps down and wares stored. Even after one day definite paths were already defined from the hundreds of feet that had tramped here there and everywhere. Ampara strolled between the stalls, letting her pack hang off one shoulder, and studying everything at her leisure. There were visible campfires here and there where gather revelers were tented and camping out, but she intended to skirt around them, preferring to be out of sight and out of mind.

She reached the fence post that she had claimed as her own earlier in the day, breathing in the cool night air and exhaling slowly, relishing the faint smell of wood smoke. Ampara looked up at the many stars in the night sky and smiled. _Just me and the stars for guides._ It was easy for her to jump the fence, and she quietly whistled. The closer she came to the road the slower her stride became until she had come to a full stop, head turning, looking back towards the hold.

_There's nothing to be afraid of, it's just like camping, go, go, go._ Her heart said.

Her mind said. _Why not just wait? You can be a proper journeyman and have proper adventures if you want. How will the intrepid adventurer feel once she has no soft place to lay her weary head and no warm food to eat and none to look forward to either?_

Ampara frowned. She'd been waiting for this moment for sevendays, and now she was getting cold feet? She took a step back, taking a more comfortable stance, and then shook her head at herself.

_No going back, just go forward!_

Yet, her body seemed unwilling to move onward; posture rigid, unyielding.

_Just think of all of the fighting and head butting and unhappiness you'll have if you stay. You'll go mad. This is what you want. Take it._

She sighed, turning around. _Are you afraid of the dark? Turn back around and go. This is what you want. What you need._

_I do want to run away. I do._ She spun again on the spot, looking at the road, taking a baby step forward. _I just thought it would be easier._

True, in theory it was easy to just turn and walk away and have grand adventures, but reality was bleeding in uninvited on her happy fantasy. Not to mention the likelihood that her mother would be even more frantic to find and keep an eye on her now that this father business was yet another thing between them, there was her uncle too. Ampara touched the pendant at her neck. They'd find her and it would just be another disappointment. Another black mark on her sordid history as a troublemaker and then it would take good luck trying to do anything with any sort of freedom afterwards. _I thought you didn't care. You want to have grand adventures who cares about them? They don't understand what you want anyway, not even Tari._

_ No, they don't, but they can't stop me from choosing my own path once I am a Journeyman. I could even go to the weyr, and wouldn't that just show them all?_ Ampara smiled. She could see her mother's throbbing forehead vein in her mind's eye.

"Ha. It really would."

Her shoulders slumped slowly, and one last time she turned around walking towards the hold. _You might not get another opportunity like this. _

_ This may have been my last chance, and I just didn't know it._

After this day, who knew what the final straw would be? Besides, hadn't she already won? Stolen the higher ground for once? Perhaps it was a short lived victory, but for once she'd stood up unrelenting in Arai's face and had come out on top. Maybe… this was a turning point, and maybe if she could repeat the performance she would get her way in the end without having to sleep with sticks in her back, living on rations, being cold at night, or get caught and humiliated before her adventure even began.

After retracing her route, she stopped again at her fence post, leaning against it and looking up at the stars, picking out her favorite constellations which was easier as Belior and Timor were both crescents one waxing and one waning.

However, her calm resolve was not meant to last.

"Isn't it past your bedtime?"

Ampara jumped.

"Valtoren, haven't they tucked you in and read you a story yet?"

In the dark she could see his outline, and the outlines of a few boys whose names escaped her backing him up.

"Where is your glow basket? I never knew you were so afraid of the dark that you needed, ah, company." She smirked though no doubt it was lost in the shadows.

"These are my friends. We came to compliment you on your lovely performance, and we just happened to see you sneaking out of the courtyard. Why you came all the way out here is curious, but I think it serves my purpose well."

Ampara's eyes widened. She had expected sabotage, childish tantrums, and pathetic attempts at intimidation, but the hard, cruel snarl in his voice chilled her in a way going _between_ never could.

"You brought a lot of help, who knew you were so scared of little old me? I guess you know I'm a savage feline at heart." She saw the outlines begin to fan out, but heard some distinct snickering.

"Shut up." Valtoren didn't even raise his voice, she couldn't see his eyes; however, there was something in her gut saying they were on her.

She had been letting her pack slowly slide down her arm, until it was nearly touching the ground. Her muscles were tense, and her weight was shifting forward and to the right, ready to swerve and spring over the railing. Ampara had no qualms about running from this one. There would be no one to break up the fight whether she won or lost.

_Just learning so much today aren't we._

She grit her teeth, her face a grimace, and her feet were ready to fly… That was when the first orange plumes of fire crackled into life from the gather stalls, casting a garish light on everything. Ampara grabbed the railing, blinking away the sudden spots dancing before her vision, trying to comprehend the roars and the thundering of many hooves and the screams of herdbeast and runnerbeast and humans alike.

"Shards."

"By Faranth."

"What by the first egg is going on?

"I can't believe…"

It was surprising how quickly menacing shadows turned into quivering little boys. She heard shouts and cries from the camps, and more screams coming from the stalls. Ampara released herself like a tightly wound spring, running towards the madness, dropping her pack on the ground, forgetting it entirely.

"Ampara stop! What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?" Valtoren bellowed after her, but, comparatively, fire and stampeding runners somehow seemed more inviting.

And if anyone was hurt… suddenly all of those hours learning healer craft were much less of a waste. She had to get back to the hold. It was already going to be a panic, and then once they quickly realized she was no longer in her bed it was going to create extra panic. She could just imagine her mother and Tari wandering around in their night dresses, calling her name, and then a runner or one of the people who had started this or… Ampara shook her head, running as fast as she could. She had to get back.

Tari had awoken maybe ten or fifteen minutes after Ampara had stolen out the window; too much fizzy juice and klah had finally caught up with her. She'd been climbing back into bed when she had noticed Ampara's bed. It was very… flat, and the window was very, very open. Tari tensed up a dozen logical explanations flew through her head, but knowing Ampara she was positive that her friend had gone out that window to do who knew what. Sneaking off to meet that dragonrider again even? She wasted no time, dressing and finding shoes and climbing out the window herself. She was going to have a talk with that girl, a serious talk, and she wasn't coming back to the room without her.

So there was Tari, furiously searching the gather stall area. It didn't enter her mind that Ampara would have gone farther than that. Her timid whispers didn't carry far, but their harsh edge would certainly catch the ear of anyone close at hand. She knew Ampara wouldn't resist giggling at her, and then she would get an earful like she had never gotten an earful before.

Tari would not have been surprised to run into any number of clandestine little romances blooming or someone passed out drunk beyond cogent behavior, but the last thing she expected was the whole place to light up in a blaze.

She faltered, barely keeping her balance as fire appeared to spring up on all sides. Tari back peddled, beginning to run and paying no heed where she was running to.

"Ampara! Ampara where are you?" Tears flowed freely down her face.

There were dragons flying overhead; however, they weren't dragons belonging to the weyr… at least not anymore. Most of the weyr's dragonmen had returned for the hatching, and those who remained were probably not going to be easily roused which would be the same for those at the weyr considering the festivities. In the current confusion the rogue dragons had plenty opportunity to snatch what they needed. It was hatching day after all, and hatchlings needed candidates.

S'tek was more than aware of the risks he was taking, but he wanted to be cautious. Dragonets were picky. They needed wide variety, and he feared that not having any people from the eggs' own timeline might be damaging somehow. He needed this first step to go right. Gathers attracted the youngsters, and now they merely had to flush them out. Beneath him Imentauth rumbled his dark bronze hide gleaming in the fire light. There weren't very many of them, but one to two candidates per dragonrider would be more than plenty. The advantage was theirs, and their silly queens wouldn't put in an appearance to stop them. They were young and the weyrwoman was certainly a coward. He ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair, licking his lips.

_Urge them to hurry._

_ Yes, my heart._


	12. Chapter 12: Helter Skelter

_Author__'__s__Note:_I bid you all greetings with love and cookies and star shine. May you not loathe me too much for my sorry inattention to my wonderful story which I assure you plagues me when I least expect it. Cheers to you dear readers, Mage of Roses. _Update_: Fixed an error in typing and changed 'cast' to 'costs' as was appropriate. 5.24.2013

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**Chapter****12:**_**Helter**__**Skelter**_

* * *

Ampara ran, sweat dripped down her face, and she stumbled over broken tents and ruts in the ground. No matter the obstacle she kept moving. Screams, human and animal, reverberated in the air, and the smoke was becoming thick. She squinted, dodging a stumbling youth one minute, and springing over the wreckage of a gather stall the next. Some people were running into the chaos to rescue their wares while others ran out to save their skins. A loose runner nearly clipped her, and she spun and fell, landing on the hard packed earth scraping her limbs and bruising others. Ampara rolled, pushing herself up, navigating over the debris. Smoke stung her nose and she coughed, green eyes watering.

_How did it get so bad so fast?_ The flames and destruction were everywhere. It was more than possible for fire to spread quickly, but why hadn't the watch noticed sooner? Surely they had someone watching things at night. Even at the hall there was someone who made rounds in the dark.

She paused at a crossway, making sure her trajectory was in line with the hold and trying to catch her breath. A man bumped into her, latching onto her arm and dragging her down a path that was completely opposite from the way they were supposed to go.

"Don't worry I'm a dragonrider, we're helping everyone get out of this mess, come along now," he licked his lips, and Ampara dug her heels into the ground, noticing the way his eyes were darting back and forth. She blinked, trying to clear the water from her vision, and noticed she was at the head of a whole column of people being drug out of the fire; many young people. Their faces were hard to make out in the dim lighting.

"Ampara?"

Her head twisted around and she caught sight of Tari's tear stained face and trembling lip.

"Why aren't you in bed?" She felt suddenly cool under the layer of her sweat as the bottom dropped out of her stomach; something didn't feel right, nothing was right. Tari being there was especially not right. Why were there so many dragonriders so organized so soon? Where were the people struggling to go back for their precious burning valuables or desperate to look for loved ones? She'd seen other people running past, but the dragonriders weren't stopping them. Why weren't they helping anyone else?

"Quit dragging your feet!"

"But the hold is the other way! I have healer training. I have to go!" Her arm was in a vice-grip, struggling was getting her nowhere.

"It doesn't matter. The dragons will take you to the hold, but in there is no place for anyone man nor beast. The injured can come to you." The dragonrider gave her a rough jerk. Where by the name of Faranth were they going?

_Out and away from everything and everyone dimglow where you won't be missed._

"Wh… why…" Tari croaked, and the harper apprentice found she didn't care to hear the question; act now answer questions later.

"None of your sharding business." Ampara's features tightened suddenly, eyes narrowing, jaw setting, and her foot came into swift contact with the least padded part of the dragonrider's shin. If he hadn't been wearing a thick coat she would have bit him, as it was she settled for punching him in the jaw at the same time.

His natural reaction was to fling Ampara away and cradle his injured face which was exactly what she hoped for, and breaking rank she grabbed Tari pushing her ahead of her. It was lucky that she caught him by surprise though her knuckles felt rather unlucky in comparison.

"We're going back to the hold." Inferno or not the only adults in the group were dragonriders; dragonriders without Great Cliffs knots and without concern for the people they should have been helping. Everything in her gut said the whole situation was off, and the fire itself… the way it sprang up all at once. Things seemed less and less like coincidence by the second. Everything was happening too fast. They needed to go back. Everything would be fine if they just made it back, and even if her mother screamed at her that would be normal.

_ Perfectly fine even._

"Run, run now!" Ampara pushed Tari again, and caught her when she stumbled. She put all of her weight into the unwilling mass her of best friend leaning forward into her.

She ground her teeth and smacked Tari right across the back of the head.

"If you don't go and find master Arai now she is going to kill us both."

The harper lass couldn't have said whether it was the sudden stinging in Tari's scalp or the absolute anger and frustration in her tone that propelled Tari forward, but in a flash she was off and going. However, it was the loss of those few precious moments that was the difference between Tari's escape and the blow to the back of Ampara's head that laid her low. One second she was taking her first stride after the terrified apprentice and the second she was on the ground, tasting blood and dirt on her lips. Then she was up again, being carried this time, but it was a bumpy ride as the carrier was running and a sudden nausea bubbled up inside her. Ampara might have been sick if she hadn't been struggling for her consciousness. She held onto that sick feeling, trying to anchor her fuzzy mind on the events at hand.

"We have to go now the fire is getting worse! Hurry up, hurry up before it spreads more! Don't worry this one will be fine. Fear makes people do funny things, we'll take care of you all just hurry. Please, please hurry."

_He is a liar. He's lied to them all._

Later Ampara would have trouble remembering that part of her night at the gather, and would piece together what she didn't figure out on her own by listening to the accounts from others; however, what she would always remember was the second time she ever went _between_ in her life.

The cold drove into her like knives down to the marrow. It cleared up her head, but unlike the last time the trip was not brief. Had she been strapped in? She couldn't feel anything. _How long have I been _between _now?_ Things were going dark again. Or was it darker technically? After all it was a void, a black pit of nothing. What if she just floated away and never came back?

_No. I can't. I have to go back. My mother, Tari, my uncle, even Matíne I'd be glad to see right now. Just a while longer. Just keep it together a while longer._

Ampara wasn't sure how long the trip lasted, time had been funny for her since her bump on the head, but when they came out into in the free air again it was still cold; a breath of warmth for a mere moment in comparison to the cold of _between_. In the twilight she could see snow on the ground, and her breath misted the air. It seemed that rocky spires reached up on all sides. She could see glow lights streaming out of a tall, jagged crack in the rock face. They all landed as near to the opening as possible which was about wide enough for three people at a time. She was drug down off the blue dragon and shoved forward towards the light by his rider. Ampara found her footing and marched forward too tired, bruised, nauseous, and freezing to consider bolting when she could feel the heat emanating from ahead. Besides, there was no place to run to in the dark and cold. Her head was pounding and walking into the bright light just seemed to make it crescendo. The heat at least was a relief, washing over her like sinking into a hot spring.

As soon as she was in from the cold she looked up to see dragon eggs. Five of them spaced evenly apart in a straight line, burning sand below to keep them warm. The glows were in baskets strung overhead. None had started to hatch yet.

_The luxury of going between times I guess._

It was a sullen thought, but she wanted to laugh. Just stand there and have a good hearty, crazy chuckle. She'd gotten exactly what she wanted; just deserts. The blue rider pushed her, causing her to stumble in the sand which was already a hazard underfoot. She whirled around ready to give him another taste of what she'd given him earlier. Let him try and push her around.

"E'lir, no more."

E'lir froze, eyes sliding to the wall where a man was leaning and observing the so called candidates coming in. This was her first look at S'tek.

The dragonrider peeled away from the wall and closed the distance between herself and E'lir in quick, powerful strides. It was but a moment before he was towering over herself and even over the blue rider. S'tek was well muscled, but with streaks of grey settling into his dark hair. His eyes were pale blue, and Ampara swallowed as she looked into them feeling beads of sweat beginning to break out on her skin anew. The color was like the ice in the moonlit night, and she felt like he was trying to stare into the darkest corners of her mind. He did not avert his gaze as he spoke to the blue rider.

"You will attend to our other guests now. Make sure they are circled around the eggs as I wanted."

"Yes sir." E'lir gave her one last look down his nose, saying with his eyes that they weren't finished before he went to supervise the rest of the 'candidates.'

"I apologize young lady. We've all been a little on edge of late, and in this cold waste some forget their manners more quickly than others." He hadn't stopped looking her in the eye since the second he noticed her, and unflinchingly her green ones had stared back.

Ampara balled up her fists and before she had thought it through or realized what she was doing she spat on him, angry beyond words. She would have gladly tried jumping him and trying any violence that came to mind, but uncertainty froze her limbs. As much fury there was bubbling up inside her like a corrosive acid she came to the belated realization that she had no idea what he might do to her. E'lir had hit her over the head to keep her from escaping after all. S'tek rose to her expectations by closing the last remaining space between them and still their gazes remained locked. Ampara tilted her head back, raising her chin to keep her eyes on his. She wasn't going to back down now.

"I am S'tek, weyrleader. You will show me respect." His tone was as cold as _between_.

"I'm Ampara, harper. I have no respect for thieves and kidnappers. Maybe even killers if someone died in those fires."

He wasted no time backhanding her across the face. She tasted blood; split lip or maybe he reopened the earlier cut. There was a snicker from somewhere, probably E'lir's. A familiar voice whispered her name, and other unfamiliar ones passed it along. Her vision was swimming a little again, but she didn't fail to recognize Valtoren shuffling in as one of the last arrivals not stopping to help or hinder the proceedings.

_Out of so many people to_ _kidnap_…

Of all of them he had to get caught up in this madness, maybe this was her punishment for even entertaining the idea of running away. She had wanted so badly to escape her life. Well now she had, but not on her terms. S'tek grabbed her by the hair, curling his fingers into it for a solid grip. He yanked her head to an uncomfortable and awkward angle. He then forced her to walk over to the line of eggs, standing near the last one on the right; Valtoren close by.

"Listen to me." His voice echoed easily across the cavern and commanded silence from the scared children he had stolen from the gather and a few others he'd obtained from elsewhere.

"You are all being given a great chance. A great gift. Impression. The thing every person young or old in this world longs for. I will abide no trouble. Five of you are going to be very lucky tonight. Those who are not will find no ill treatment here unless you invite it."

He drew breath to say more, but in the silence the first egg cracked. To her throbbing, aching head the sound was deafening. Ampara felt her gut twist in fear and mild nausea. She remembered telling gruesome stories of dragon hatchings past to the new young apprentices to terrify them out of their minds.

_It's all good fun until you're the one standing there in front of real dragon eggs._

The hold on her hair loosened and S'tek favored an iron grip on her shoulder as he waited. Ampara tried to swallow and nearly choked on her saliva which was mostly blood. She settled for spitting into the sand, pointedly away from the 'weyrleader' not wanting to invite more pain to her head.

Another thunderous crack cemented the crowd's attention on the eggs. The first broken eggshell suddenly splintered apart leaving a splayed, creeling dragonet where an egg had once been; the one dead center of the line. It tried to get up and screeched as it stumbled. Ampara wanted to clap her hands over her ears at the sound, but she couldn't move, finding herself entranced as one of its wings extended. She noted a distinctive green-gold color.

"A bronze. That'a boy." S'tek murmured, digging his fingers painfully into her shoulder.

The second egg disintegrated around its occupant and it was easy to see that a green had come second into their little world. It was at the end of the line closest to her, S'tek, and Valtoren. She could see his face, and it was nearly as green as the dragonet before him. That didn't seem good. It was going to know he was scared stupid, and he had absolutely no clue what to do. Not that any of them did. The dragonet wailed and got to its feet. She, because of course as a green it would be a girl, waved her head around acting as if it was too heavy for her neck as she rose up from the ground. It cried out again and lurched toward Valtoren. He shrieked and tried to shrink into the people next to him.

"Don't be afraid. She won't hurt you boy. Don't be a sissy." S'tek muttered something else under his breath that she couldn't quite catch, but thought it was something resembling, 'If you're lucky.'

"Just get out of the way you coward." Ampara hissed, thinking maybe he'd latch onto her familiar tone and get a handle on himself or get angry and get it together, anything besides just stand there.

He glanced at her, but the green staggered towards their small grouping and they all paid the new arrival a chorus of shrieks.

"By the first egg," S'tek let go of Ampara, turning his head to find E'lir, "Don't let this get out of hand," he motioned the blue rider towards the frightened, huddled mass of candidates with his now free hand.

That, however, was quickly becoming less and less likely. Ampara went cold on the inside when she saw the green's eyes turn red, and she snarled at them, rearing up on her hind legs that were still learning to hold her weight. She was going to maim him, or worse end him.

"Move, move, move! Out of the way all of you!" Ampara shouted, and once again she was running before she even knew what she was going to do. As much as she had hated him they all had to go home and be okay after this nightmare was over. Then they could go back to their stupid rivalry in peace away from these crazy dragonriders and stolen eggs. She ran right in front of the dragonet shoving Valtoren and the few others toward the center. He got his legs working to get far enough to collide with some boys in front of the bronze dragonet and collapse in a tangle of limbs. A girl and another boy just backed up a few more paces too scared to turn their backs on an angry dragon, and Ampara... she got the brunt of the little green.

The slash was seen before it was felt, and for a moment she thought maybe it was happening to someone else like she was still a spectator at S'tek's side. Ampara even entertained the idea that the little beast had missed her. The swipe had cost the green dragon her balance and she seemed to fall so slowly in Ampara's mind. Maybe she would hit the sands in an hour or so.

Ampara looked down and she saw the blood begin to well up from her left shoulder, five side by side slashes, raking down diagonally over her left breast and skating just under the right. As soon as her mind accepted the fact she was bleeding the burning pain hit her full force and her legs went out from under her to a chorus of screaming. She landed on her back and her instinct was to reach up with her right hand and grip her shoulder. Ampara also pressed her arm against the gashes as well as she could. The nausea came back full force; she turned her head and was intensely sick on the sand next to her and everything began to go out of focus.

_Is this dying?_ The pain was searing and flared even higher as she tried to breathe. Already her hand was covered in blood. The color of it seemed far too bright. It could have been paint for a prank she would do or maybe had done. She squeezed her shoulder tightly, trying to exert pressure of some kind. All of the shouting and screaming was far away from her now, and she didn't register the hands picking her up and carrying her away from the dragons and the people.

_At least it is quiet. If dying has to be horrible pain at least I don't have to listen._

_There will be no death today young one. _A voice interceded in her thoughts, booming into her haze of pain and blood loss.

_Who are you? Why can't you leave me alone?_ Ampara drew in a shuddering breath; every step of those who carried her was a stab into her chest. She could feel tears running down her cheeks though she didn't remember starting to cry, and she heard herself scream but everything seemed to be out of sync; like she had just opened her mouth to take a breath but the sound was already escaped. Her thoughts were jumbling together like knotted rope.

_I am Imentauth, and the girl with red in her hair cannot be left to die._

_What do you mean? What are you talking about? Oh Faranth someone help me. Anyone please, please help me._

That was the last conscious thought Ampara would have for nearly a sevenday. Her injuries at the hand of an angry green dragonet combined with head trauma not to mention a long trip _between times_ left her weak and susceptible to further illness. It would be lucky, the journeyman healer reported to S'tek, if she lived.

* * *

Just moments after S'tek and his crew had cleared out a wing of dragonriders from Great Cliffs appeared overhead. K'osir was the wingleader, but as it wasn't his actual wing. Instead it was an assortment of everyone that he could trust to spare, and M'ran was acting as his second.

_Fire first. Put it out whatever it takes. Dirt and river water. Dirt will smother it best. Watch out for people. If you can help the injured do it. To Gigith, I go to the hold._

K'osir and his bronze Torasefth peeled off from the 'V' formation which reshaped itself into an angled line at Gigith's command. They spread out and the dragons begin blinking in and out returning with dirt mostly. A couple took water troughs belonging to the beasts of burden and put those to good use, putting out the fire wouldn't take long, because at this point most of the damage had been done. He doubted the flames would reach the main hold. The bronze dragon flew low, trying to find landing space in the courtyard which had become a flurry of activity as the alarms had been raised. Torasefth managed to set down with a soft "whump" coming as close to the wall as he could manage, squeezing himself in among the growing number of hold guardsmen and those drawn out by the noise and commotion. K'osir leapt down, and he made straight for the lord holder who was sending out the first group to search for the injured.

"Soriskend," his voice bellowed easily over the rising noise level, used to such as a wingleader.

His lordship waved over the wingleader while barking orders to the next group of men, telling them what ground to cover and where to bring the injured. One man scurried on his way to retrieve the master healer and drum up any man or woman that could deal with splinting and bandaging.

"Well this is well dusted isn't it? I suppose your riders are putting out the fires?" Soriskend was scowling, not liking the looks of this mess one bit.

"Yes and finding the injured."

"Shaffit K'osir how did this happen? I'll be surprised if we find no one dead. I want to know who is responsible for this mess."

The dragonrider had some ideas but he wasn't going to repeat them to the lord holder at present.

"Once the fires are out my men will help ferry the injured back here, and after that whatever other help we can provide."

"We'll get to that. Just make sure your men don't bury anyone or drown someone trying to put out the flames."

He was about to come up with a smart retort when the harper master came up to them, causing K'osir to bite back the remark. He'd be glad to be ignored instead, considering he'd just had a near miss with her already.

"Soriskend have you seen Ampara, probably another apprentice with her? I can't find them inside I thought maybe they've been out here with all of the commotion?"

The lord holder shook his head, "Anyone not in the guard would have been sent back inside."

The wailing cry of, "Master Arai," reached their ears from the gates. The pitiful figure of Tari stumbled in, tears making tracks in the dirt on her face. Her clothes were sooty and it looked as if she had fallen down a time or two. K'osir noted at least one scraped knee.

Arai froze her eyes widening. He could see the horrible assumption play out on the harper master's face.

Tari made it a few steps into the courtyard before she fell to the ground, landing hard on her knees, sobbing. The dragonrider was surprised and wary at the calm the master presented as she hurried forward to the distraught girl. Soriskend followed Arai his face set in hard lines. K'osir caught up to and kept pace with the harper. Her expression was rigid, and it was with deepening dread that they came to Tari, forming a circle around her.

Arai kneeled down.

"Shhh. Tari I'm here now. It's okay. Was Ampara with you? Is she okay?" The last question came out far more tersely than she had started. K'osir didn't think she'd keep it together long if her tone was already fraying around the edges.

"Tari?" K'osir came down to one knee, putting his hand on the girl's shoulder and squeezing it.

"It's going to be okay Tari. Just tell us what you saw. You're safe here."

Between sobbing breaths Tari began to tell them how she woke up and Ampara was gone and how she had gone out to look for her when the flames sprang up from everywhere at once.

"Then there were dragonriders that said they were going to help us and I looked up and Ampara was there and the dragonrider wouldn't let go of her to come back here so she punched him and grabbed me and told me to run. She wanted to come back here to help. I was so scared but she pushed me and she hit me and I started running and I turned back and I saw her fall and the dragonrider picked her up, but she told me to come find you. It's all my fault. She was trying to come back here and I slowed her down."

She lapsed into another fit of sobs.

"Dragonriders? Tari what dragonriders? Would they have taken her to the weyr?"

Arai turned to K'osir, confused.

"No I don't think so."

"You don't think so? Well where are they then?" Arai snapped, her face softening a little as she noticed Tari cringe. "Where did they go?"

K'osir stood, straightening his jacket, contemplating his next words.

"None of the Great Cliffs riders stayed behind tonight because of the hatching. My wing was the first one here. From what Tari has said of dragonriders," he sighed, "I think you'll find several young people have gone missing. S'tek…" he shook his head, grimacing.

They of course were sure he had been the one behind the egg snatching, but no one had thought he'd pull a stunt like this. Show up at the gather maybe, but this was far beyond anything they had suspected him capable of. If he was willing to go this far… K'osir was afraid what he might try next. What would stop him from doing worse? He hoped that Ampara hadn't impressed for her own sake and for her mother's.

"Are you saying," Arai began rising slowly to her feet, "that those dragonriders have taken my daughter Faranth knows where?" He could hear the touch of hysteria in her tone.

"Arai I'm…"

"Don't you dare say that. Don't you dare tell me how sorry you are! I hate you. I hate all of you," she was screaming at him and she didn't notice or care who saw or heard, "If it wasn't for the lot of you none of this would have happened. None of it. She is," Arai bit her lip as she felt hot tears spilling down her face, the first she had cried in a long time, "my only daughter. I love her, and I will find her and you will help me find her. All of you will help me find her. Do you understand? Do you?"

K'osir cast his eyes down for a moment, but when he looked up he looked her squarely in the eyes, "I promise I will do everything in my power to find her. I swear it by the first egg."

For a moment all they did was stare at one another and then Arai gave the barest of nods. He doubted she trusted him any more than earlier, but she couldn't go _between_ on her own or _between times _for that matter. They needed to move quickly. At worst Ampara could show up the next day a dragonrider and turns older loyal to S'tek and whatever dire schemes he could be plotting even now.

Arai helped Tari to her feet and put her arm around the girl's shoulders. Tari had been through enough; to the healers and then some fellis.

Soriskend regarded K'osir coolly as the dragonrider watched them leave.

"I hope you can keep that promise K'osir. You didn't find the eggs before they hatched, and what if the girl has impressed one of them?"

"I will find everyone that has gone missing. Everyone. I'll give you my word as a dragonman on it too." He turned on his heel, heading back to Torasefth. K'osir would return to his wing, and start helping look for the injured as well as find people who had seen these dragonriders. Someone had to have seen something. Someone had to _know _something. Things had not been smooth in the weyr since Iulliana had taken command of the leadership, and he was sure the egg snatching was a product of someone reporting to S'tek. K'osir didn't think he would stop at five eggs. It was luck and a poor flight owing to R'farc that there hadn't been a queen, but what about the next clutch or the one after? S'tek could afford to wait where K'osir could not.

Torasefth lifted off from the courtyard, soaring up to rejoin the other dragons and he relayed to Gigith the things that had transpired on the ground, keeping it from all of the others.

He was taken aback when Gigith screeched her eyes flashing red.

_The girl with the red in her hair can't be gone!_

_Did you pick her? _Torasefth asked, meaning had he approached her on search terms. He knew that when Gigith and particular descriptors were involved she was on to something. _Worse, did you consult other dragons about it?_

_I didn't know this would happen did I? _She snorted, eyes whirling yellow to orange to red and back again in her distress.

_That means you did, and now they might know. If Imentauth's rider really wants a queen do you think a dragonet would choose the broken lady if he decides to keep your choice just in case?_

_ No. We must get her back. _

M'ran grimaced. He didn't relish speaking to Arai, and he feared what S'tek might do next. Grief did funny things to people sometimes. For Arai's sake he hoped Ampara wouldn't be hurt or impressed. The important thing now was to keep S'tek away from clutches, and find out at all costs 'when' he had gone.


	13. Chapter 13: Fixing A Hole

_Author's Note_: FF has gotten fancier and so thus I dusted off ye olde profile and gave it a makeover (perhaps with more to come later) and came up with a new icon and now you can even make book covers for your stories (so chic) so of course I did that. I didn't put much ambition into it thus a minimalist cover was born, and apparently you can click to enlarge now that you're here all cozy in my new chapter though it seems to be a little buggy at times. Apparently 300w X 450h pixels is a good size; fifty pixels wider and it took the 's' off at the end of my nom-de-plume though the 's' is that close to the edge of the image I now realize, but no need to tweak that as now it is completely visible. Anyway now that you've had your fun facts I want to thank you as always for keeping with me, and now back to your regularly scheduled program. (Don't forget to _review_!) ~Mage of Roses _P.S. _I apologize for any inconsistency in "Iuliana's" name one **l **and one **n **will be the standard from now on and also the clutch is definitely twenty-one eggs with five eggs stolen. I will at some point go back and correct the mistakes and inconsistencies. Thanks for bearing with me and the story's growing pains so to speak and the time it has taken me to come this far. I love all my readers and I thank you so much for giving me the time of day.

* * *

**Chapter 13: **_**Fixing A Hole**_

* * *

Paifan sat at his bare desk in his office. It wasn't much more than a closet with a hide covering the opening to serve as a door. Sparseness was the theme of his small cavern devoted to the healing arts. He was only a journeyman healer, but he made do with what S'tek gave him which seemed to be less and less as the days went on. The hide was pulled back so he could keep an eye on his one and only patient. He was just finishing a report on Ampara's condition to be sent to the 'weyrleader' by firelizard. Paifan wasn't concerned about reporting in person anymore than he had to. S'tek was becoming deafer to his words as the sevendays passed and he was becoming increasingly fed up with his decision to partake in what was slowly becoming complete madness. If it hadn't been for the lingering concern over his aunt he would have already sworn secrecy, promised to change his name, and asked S'tek to land him in whatever time period he saw fit. As a healer he could make do most anywhere populated.

His report he signed in a clear, neat script; out of habit rather than necessity as he was the sole caretaker for S'tek's little complement of riders. Healers had a penchant for messy handwriting, but his Aunt Obenisi insisted that if he was going to be in a craft that required record keeping he wasn't going to leave behind firelizard scratchings for future generations to read. Of course that was before all of their lives had changed. In some ways they had thought it would be better, but it had all gone very wrong. Paifan in some ways regretted his choice to come to the future; it had, for a while, seemed not much different than the time he had left. There were new names and faces and new things to learn, but even that wasn't so unusual when the weyr population brought in new faces for impression. In the end he'd come to the conclusion that it was better to know rather than have lived his life into old age and ignorance of the things that had gone on.

The journeyman healer had been witness to the immediate aftermath of the ill fated simultaneous risings of Obenisi's Sirith, the then weyrwoman of Great Cliffs Weyr past and future, and Iuliana's Xeniath. The woman that had doted on him for as long as he could remember, though by weyr rights she had no reason or obligation to do so, was gone by the time he had reached her. Those who had been participating in the flight but hadn't won were shocked back to their senses by the sudden death of a queen. S'tek had the presence of mind to protect Obenisi from herself, but while his removal from the weyr to the icy island they now inhabited hadn't occurred immediately that fateful incident was certainly the deciding factor.

He'd never born witness to a rider losing their dragon before and even if it had been anyone other than someone he loved it was something unforgettable that he wanted nothing more than to erase from his memory. They had been partners for over forty turns or rather more than that to each other as the relationship between dragons and riders that was more than partnership, and when whatever that was had been severed her sense of self had been wholly shattered. She seemed to revert at first to an almost childlike state except one that was characterized by bereavement; wailing, moaning, rocking herself, trying to hurt herself, and when there had been a lapse in vigilance to her care she had almost downed and entire bottle of fellis. Paifan had helped force feed and bathe and nurse his aunt when she would lift no fingers to help herself. The constant care had nearly unbalanced him. S'tek had been inconsolable himself at first, but then he was consumed by a rage that burned so hotly Paifain was beginning to think the heat of his anger had ruined his mind. The truth was she wasn't much better off than she had been. His Aunt Nisi passed her days perpetually mute except when she cried out for her dragon and saw her less and less, assigning a rotation of maids to watch her and help her day and night.

The move to the island wouldn't have been an ideal choice under normal circumstances, but he refused to leave his patient, his aunt, while she was still "recovering". At first it had been a relief. Fewer dragonriders to remind her what she had lost was no doubt a balm to his aunt's fractured mind, and at first all of S'tek's energy had been focused on her. However, something had changed in the man. He had been a good weyrleader and he and Obenisi had been devoted to one another, but seeing his weyrmate like that had broken something in him. Paifan had been angry too, but he hadn't escalated into hatred. Iuliana had been irresponsible and unable to control her queen; however, his aunt had been too lax with her. Now everything had gone completely wrong and he couldn't condone it. S'tek had already been too reckless by far and now he was seriously endangering lives.

If Obenisi had desperately been trying to free herself from the burden of life then this girl, Ampara, had clung to it with equal tenacity. He thanked Faranth that he hadn't lost her. Paifan heard shifting and looked up from his hide to see his patient kicking off her blankets yet again. These thrashings were keeping him hopeful of her condition. When they had brought her in she'd been completely unresponsive and one sevenday had passed without much more than brief moments of consciousness and some incoherent babbling to go with a high fever and the wounds she'd sustained at the claws of a green dragonet. He'd seen to stitching her up first and keeping the wounds disinfected. It could have been worse, and, having been a journeyman healer at Great Cliffs before this place, he had seen worse. Higher into the neck she might have bled out before anything could have been done and lower into the abdomen and the dragonet could have disemboweled her. The cuts were deepest in her shoulder, and had become increasingly more superficial as the dragonet had already been losing its balance in the act of striking out at her. The shoulder would require exercises to keep the scar tissue from hobbling her movement; however, she'd always have a reminder of her run in with the dragonet.

If moving her _between_ and especially _between times_ wasn't out of the question Paifan would have moved that they take her back to wherever she came from and dump her on the doorstep of a master healer even though recovery was finally in sight. Three days in he thought he was going to lose her. She'd been burning up and trying to toss and turn so much he had tied her down for fear she'd rip her stitches loose, but apparently this harper girl hadn't been interested in dying just quite yet. Thankfully the fever broke, and Paifan had been cautiously optimistic about her return to health since. He had initially been more concerned about the blow to her head and how the subsequent traumas she'd received would affect it. At the end of a second sevenday in his care she was showing greater signs of increased consciousness, and so it was only a matter of time before she completely woke up. No doubt she would still require a lot of rest, but she would be back to a normal sleeping and waking cycle.

He got up and went to replace the blanket once she quieted down, and while he was gathering it in his arms a small moan reached his ears. It wasn't the first time she had made noises of course, but as he placed the blanket back over her and straightened it up he did check on her stitches, took her pulse, and checked her temperature; much the same as it had been earlier. The fluttering of her eyelids caught his attention and he paused watching as they settled again for a moment he thought it had been yet another false wakening, but then he noticed her face scrunch up and then slowly her eyes opened and she blinked once and then again. Slowly her eyes travelled around the room before coming to rest on his face where she would find nothing recognizable. His blue grey eyes weren't anything compared to the intensity of her green ones, and his strong jaw line added to the angular nature of his lanky body though there was more stubble these days than before.

"Ampara are you awake? Can you hear me?"

Her eyes focused, brow crinkling. She winced, pursing her lips together as she turned her head just slightly to get a better look at him.

"Don't move. You got pretty banged up. It's going to be slow going for a little while."

He saw her eyes darting around the room. Was she trying to remember? Paifan wouldn't be surprised if she had some short term memory loss. From what he'd heard things had been chaotic.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"I guess…" her voice croaked and she cleared her throat, "I guess it all really happened then. Dragon eggs, S'tek, the girl…" she trailed off.

"Here let's get a little water down before you try and speak any more."

Paifan was able to ease her up to a semi-sitting position supporting her at her shoulders, and he heard her hiss as the tenderness of the wounds came home. Once she had a chance to get some water down he gently got her laid back down. Now that she was awake he'd be able to judge the numbweed usage more accurately.

* * *

_The girl with the red in her hair._ Ampara chewed the phrase over in her mind as the healer administered help to her, frustrated at her pain and the fact that if he wasn't holding her up she wouldn't be able to support herself; even her neck wanted to just give out and let her head hang limp.

It would be stupid to ignore the fact she had red hair, and she was fairly sure Imentauth belonged to S'tek. The sad story no one liked to talk about, but that everyone whispered anyway. She'd never cared much; it didn't affect her and wasn't her problem, but she supposed it was definitely part of her problem now. Ampara felt certain that his bronze had been poking around in her head without permission, speaking to her while she came in and out of the world. The haze hadn't fully cleared from her senses. She had snapped to and she was paying the price with the beginnings of a headache.

"The girl?" Paifan prompted after a moment of quiet.

"Nothing. Are you a real healer?" She'd been far away from the moment, but with her full attention on him he was arrested by the intensity of her gaze.

"Sanctioned journeyman." He smiled, trying to put on his best bedside table manner. It was the least he could do when no one else had treated her with any civility. No one had even been by except for one of the boys that had impressed.

"I don't want any those dragonriders near me until I can use my arm. Well… at least stand." Ampara frowned this injury did not bode well considering S'tek and E'lir's warm welcomes.

_Stupid, stepping in to save his hide like that. _

"Even your friend?"

"What friend?" Ampara's eyes widened… what friends could she possibly have here?

"That boy who impressed the bronze. It's V'lor now I think. What was it before? Valoren?"

"Valtoren impressed a bronze?" She resisted the urge to shake her head. He was arrogant enough for it she supposed. This was a nightmare.

"I don't want him here either."

Paifan paused to consider. If he continued to report that she was unconscious no one would bother to come down and check for themselves for at least another sevenday. He knew that the harper boy had been spilling his guts to S'tek, telling him as much as he could about anything he wanted to know, including revealing that the girl's mother was a master. Paifan didn't doubt he'd want additional details out of Ampara if he could get them, and if what they'd all been saying about the hatching was true he couldn't imagine that going well. His job was to make her better, and he wouldn't let S'tek jeopardize that at the very least. For now she remained "unconscious" and in a few days when he could have her out of bed and start exercising the shoulder herself then he would go have a word with the weyrleader. He didn't think this is what his aunt would want no matter what had happened to Sirith or what she would want for S'tek. Maybe this incident could convince him to stop since he'd made his point. This didn't have to go any further and if he made amends before someone ended up dead maybe they could live in peace somewhere. If S'tek wanted to remain in self exile that was his decision, but he didn't have to drag them all down into madness and villainy.

"No one will come uninvited. I promise. No one comes in here but me, and they all know how I feel about being left to my own devices." Paifan hoped that was at least a little reassuring.

"I hope you keep that promise, because you don't want to know what will happen to you if you don't." She felt her eyes droop. How could she be so tired? Hadn't she been asleep long enough?

Paifan's mouth twitched and he turned to hide a smile as he collected the fellis, numbweed, and the implements to change her bandages off the shelf behind them. It was easy to reach as the room to maneuver was limited. He no longer had any doubts regarding the reports he had received of the events leading up to this girl's convalescence. He could see it all in his mind's eye quite clearly.

"Why did you say Valtoren was my friend? And what's going to happen to me now?"

"V'lor," he reminded gently, "And I supposed he must have been since he came to see you looking very contrite and babbling about the hall in between babbles of how great his dragon is."

"He really impressed a bronze?" Ampara cut him off before he could answer her other question.

"No doubt about it; the only bronze out of the entire clutch."

He watched as her eyes narrowed and her face contorted into a scowl, "How do you know he was the only one?"

"I would tell you to be less suspicious, but S'tek has someone that's staying in the weyr giving information to him. I'd heard you met E'lir when I got the report of your injuries. He's a search rider for Great Cliffs and so he has leave to disappear for long whiles without anyone noticing and a bad habit for timing it and acting enraged as a result. It's not much of a spy when it comes to Iuliana and most of the bronze riders, but R'farc and his mouth have turned out to be an unexpected boon as he's in R'farc's wing."

"Why are you telling me all of this so truthfully?"

"Because I don't like it, I don't agree with it, and honestly… it gets lonely being the voice of reason after a while."

Paifan smiled, but it was the sad sort where his face seemed to be fighting the upturning corners of his mouth and there was a tired look that had nothing to do with the amount of sleep he was getting.

"I have to change your bandage, but you don't have to look though it's healing up fairly well despite your early complications."

"Do your worst journeyman, and now tell me what's going to happen and how long I've been here."

"Well you've been here going on three sevendays and as for what will happen I don't know. I don't think S'tek will be willing to return you home in case you told the weyr something that could bring them here, but with the regularity he's been asking for updates I don't think he's keen to lose you to death so perhaps he will try and arrange an exchange of some sort. However, if it's a queen egg he really wants I don't think he'll try and trade you for it when he knows he could steal it if necessary though after this stunt they'll be keeping a closer eye on the dragon eggs." Paifan frowned the truth was that he wasn't really sure they'd attempt an exchange; they would have started mobilizing a move and they seemed more intent than ever in settling on this arctic rock. He wasn't sure how to tell her she might be stuck there for a long time.

"What I do know is that I got you through this far and I'm going to keep helping you until you are well. They can't do anything until you can go between. Today you'll get some real rest, and tomorrow we'll try and get you on your feet."

As he spoke he undid the bandages and cleaned the wound as he had been doing and replaced it all with fresh supplies. She watched feeling not too bad all things considered.

_I'm not dead and this I can overcome and then I'll run back home where I belong. Running home… it never sounded so good._

She noticed something missing as he bound her back up.

"Did you happen to find my necklace somewhere?"

Paifan shook his head 'no' and Ampara tried to feel less crestfallen than she actually was. Someone else might have picked it up after all, maybe that was why V'lor had shown up, presuming he was capable of such decency.

She yawned, "It's a small silver pendant with a little sapphire in it, my uncle…" she murmured, talking seemed to have zapped her strength.

"I'll look into it. You need to rest and when you wake up we'll get you some food."

The blankets though in a lesser disarray than before he fixed once again so she wouldn't be chilled; the caverns were heated from underground volcanic activity, but the cold would still seep in given the chance especially in his little offshoot tunnel he'd claimed for himself except for his living quarters which had a small heated pool to add the warmth.

He turned to go call his firelizard so it could be sent on its errand, but he felt her hand close on the fabric of his pants stopping him from going.

"You never told me your name just that you're a journeyman healer."

"It's Paifan, Journeyman Healer Paifan at your service Harper Ampara." He gave a small joking bow.

Her hand went slack and he tucked it under the covers.

"Thank you Paifan, I don't know how to thank you enough." She whispered just in his hearing and then drifted into a true sleep. He smiled and moved her hair off her forehead. The healer was glad she wasn't his usual patient.

* * *

_She has awakened_. Imentauth's vigilance easily shattered Paifan's plans to allow some candid recovery time.

_This girl with red in her hair sleeps a good sleep now. The danger has passed._

S'tek crumpled Paifan's report and threw it in the corner; the journeyman was trying his hand at defiance again. He would have to be dealt with. S'tek tented his fingers and leaned forward on his elbows at his desk. His living quarters and office were one and the same, but it was a well furnished space and a natural funnel rising up through the rock to the surface leftover from volcanic destruction had been easily modified into a large fireplace. A sofa was in front of it and there were many plush rugs along stone floor. Bringing along certain items with them when they left was part of it as well as quietly tithing from local inhabited islands on behalf of various weyrs. It was easy to forge work orders and tithe requests and there were so many dragons and riders that even going directly to crafthalls wasn't much of a problem as they were in the past and did things discreetly.

The weyrleader considered his next move. He needed the girl for the next phase of his plan. As much as he desired to return his Nisi to the state of being she deserved there was a zero chance that a dragonet much less a queen dragonet would accept her. She was too old and had already had Sirith. Even getting her to interact with him was a challenge he seemed not meant to win. Obenisi was a wisp of a being and nothing he did seemed to remove her from the fortification of her mind. The only thing he could do was give her time without a guarantee a modicum of normalcy was ever meant to be restored. S'tek couldn't let her die, but he couldn't make her live either. If he could afford to watch and wait he would have but, but he wasn't going to let that cursed Iuliana get away with ruining their lives and then proceed to ruin his weyr.

_She will not submit to you and the healer will stand against you if her recovery is threatened. He pities her._

Imentauth was still grayer in hide from Sirith's death, but could not share his rider's other strong feeling as dragons had no concept of loathing except for thread. Despite the unlikely addition of V'lor's young Anhurkith his rider was the 'leader and he had the advantage of experience. They just had to have a queen and preferably the queen's favor.

_I cannot leave my unexpected prize to rot on the tree. Is there no chance of cooperation?_

_ From what we have seen and from what Dorminth has gathered on our behalf it seems the least likely outcome._

There were other girls they had in reserve thanks to the actions they'd taken at the gather, but Ampara may have well been legitimately searched. When all three of them were in agreement, despite the high mindedness of the unwitting T'ror and his Fideath, it was the bet he would have chosen.

_It is a matter of finding a way to force her to obey and keeping my nephew appeased or distracted. Notify me when she is on the verge of awakening again and we'll waste no time. The sooner I have her the sooner she will learn. Tell Dorminth to fetch his rider to me. A few assurances can be mustered in the mean time._

Ampara was a part of the program whether she liked it or not.


	14. Chapter 14: Misery

_Author's Note_: So as of 5.24.2013 (a day or so after the previous update) I did go back and correct both chapter six and chapter eight for some things reviewers had mentioned 'phase' vs. 'faze' being the big one and dragon egg count being the other big one. If you notice any other inconsistencies please leave a _review_ or feel free to _private message_ and I'll take care of them when I can. I apologize to anyone who read the author's note to the previous story before I realized the formatting went weird it is also now fixed. Phew, housekeeping done I now invite you to enjoy Chapter 14, constructive criticism welcome as always, enjoy reading and as always I invite you to _review_! ~ Mage of Roses

* * *

**Chapter 14: **_**Misery**_

* * *

Arai sat in the conference room of Great Cliff's Weyr with a cup of klah warming her hands and a blanket around her shoulders while she waited. The rare and few times she had been required to attend to business in the weyr she was often taut with tension, snappish, irritable, and generally as skittish as a wild firelizard fair. The only comfort she often derived was that this room was not directly adjacent to or within the queen's weyrs but a few levels below due to restrictions presented by the natural cave formations; many zigs and zags within had been required. Arai didn't go near personal spaces and conducted her business in this room or in other public areas and as soon as it was concluded she'd go. It was three days into Ampara's disappearance and she couldn't muster much energy for any of her usual feelings and barely enough to see to her basic functions. She didn't recall sleeping more than a few minutes here or there since the fire, and while she could have been helping Soriskend record damage payouts and sorting claims as well as make a list of missing children it had been easier to sanction senior journeyman to do the work. All remaining apprentices and non-essential personnel were taken back to the hall.

While the weyr cleaned up and repaired damage as repayment at Kathorei Hold, since it had been their former riders to blame, she'd been to the halls to make a report of what happened including that her own daughter and Valtoren were among the missing; she'd been in a flurry of meetings and coming and goings since. She and Tari were now temporarily residing in the weyr, Great Cliffs serving as the hub of information while also at the crux of the problem. Arai couldn't even muster loathing for the idea her stay may be indefinite because if she went back to the hall she would lose it completely; the pain and regret already welling up inside was almost unbearable. She kept thinking about how it was Ampara's birthing day soon. Even though the only gift she'd ever really liked had been the necklace her uncle gave her Arai had been planning to give Ampara one of recently crafted gitar's and let her request her own design since that's the only way she'd ever like it at all. A tear ran down Arai's face and she put down the klah before she shattered another mug from not being able to keep herself together, hunching over she used the blanket to stifle a howling sob. They'd be here soon she had to stop, but she found herself crying harder and swearing she'd send Ampara to be in any craft she wanted when she got back as long as she got her back safely.

_If I had been better she wouldn't have been out there. This wouldn't have happened._ _If I hadn't been a coward and hadn't run away we'd have been safely in Southern. Faranth why when I ever wanted to do was protect her?_

Arai didn't even know where Tumparan was to tell him, and the weyr wasn't even sure when they'd be able to reach him. What if she was hurt? Was she even helping Ampara any better by being at the weyr? Tari had seemed to think so, begging Arai not to leave her behind, but she wasn't sure if that was the girl's feelings of guilt or the same terror of helplessness that was gripping Arai at that very moment. She should have said no, but she hadn't. Arai wasn't even been able to bring herself to look after Tari, assigning her to the weyr harpers had been both to distract her and to let the burden of minding her fall to them. Shards, she didn't deserve to be looking after children when she couldn't even manage to find her own child.

The door to the room opened softly, but the rattle of a food tray didn't go unnoticed. Arai was past the point of pulling herself together. Let the flaming dragonriders see her cry if they wished, but it was someone that had seen her tears before and shared her laughter and at one time a person who thought he'd find no better friend in the world.

* * *

M'ran had easily found out that Arai exiled herself to the conference room and while the weyrleadership was behind closed doors no one else seemed willing to keep up the task of looking after the master harper. Maybe they thought she didn't need it, but he didn't know of anyone that needed a caretaker more at the moment except maybe S'tek's new weyrlings. The dark thought made him scowl, but he pulled his face together as he entered the room. He didn't want Arai to think that he'd rather be elsewhere.

The food nearly slipped out of his hands when he saw her hunched over, fearing for a moment she'd collapsed.

_Don't drop the food she is just very sad and you will upset her more._ Gigith chided him as if she were an overprotective wherry-hen.

M'ran moved down the length of the table, Arai nearly at the end, and set the food down as he reached her.

"It's just me. The weyrleaders are still talking so I thought I'd bring you some food to tide you over."

He said his words quietly and gently, hoping not to rile her up. As a youth she'd exhibited some tempestuous qualities not unlike Ampara, but he'd bear it if she snapped at him. M'ran wouldn't leave her now like he had to before. That he couldn't control, but this he could.

"I don't even think I could eat, I feel sick," and he felt even more heartbroken for her than before as her words came between breathy sobs.

The green dragonrider walked around the chair and knelt down in front of her, carefully taking her hands in his. They were soft compared to his rougher hands except for her fingertips which were tough from gitar use and there was a well formed callous on the side of one finger from constantly writing and composing. There was even a spot of ink that hadn't completely faded. He remembered a huge cut she'd gotten across her left palm from climbing a tree and noticed that there was still a scar.

"You know," he cleared his throat finding himself getting choked up, "I thought I'd go off and become a dragonrider and then when you were a journeyman we'd have all those adventures together like we used to pretend as children. I never wanted anything to happen to you, especially the things that have happened to you. Maybe you'll never forgive me for being a dragonrider, but know that the moment we find her it will be me and Gigith that brings her straight to you. I swear it by the first egg."

He couldn't help tears of his own falling running down his cheeks. She had been like a sister to him once and all he'd ever done was continually fail her.

"I can't… I can't," but what she couldn't she was unable to get out as she slid out of the chair and wrapped her arms around M'ran sobbing into his shoulder, letting her hold him and stroke her hair.

"Please M'ran, I can't bear the thought of not finding her," Arai finally said after a long while had passed and he had let her cry herself out.

"I've treated her like it was my life to do over and not mess up, and I've said so many awful things to you and wasted turns. I think it's me that needs to be forgiven. What R'farc did was wrong and the way it got handled wasn't good, but I shouldn't have… I never should have…"

"Shhh, shh, please Arai, we'll go on from here. It's not too late. We're going to find S'tek and his dragons and the weyrlings and Ampara. He doesn't want to hurt them we know that much."

M'ran had known S'tek only briefly, but he had seemed like a good weyrleader and Obenisi had been a more than decent weyrwoman. He knew Ampara wouldn't be in any immediate danger, but if he had a way to lobby for Iuliana to step down he would implement it he felt sure. Stealing eggs and kidnapping children to be candidates was already an immense bargaining chip, but using Ampara as pressure wasn't beyond his scope either though so far they'd received no demands or communication of any sort. None of the queens were on the sands, but he feared what might happen at the next clutch or the one after that. His true fear was that they wouldn't get Ampara back for turns or at least she might be turns older. The best method would be to get her back before the next queen laid eggs which would give a two month window at most. Whatever needed to be done they had to do it sooner rather than later as the sevendays would pass quickly.

"Oh M'ran I just can't help but have this bad feeling like she needs help."

_The leaders are going to be coming in a moment._ Gigith warned him perking up from a watchful and wary mental state.

"Well if she's anything like you she'll know how to get out of a scrape. Just think about how many times you've saved my hide," he offered an encouraging smile, "the weyrleaders are coming in a minute there's a washroom there if you'd like to wash your face, though I guess I didn't have to tell you that."

"I still think you owe me marks and bubbly pies actually," she said, climbing to her feet by pulling herself up with the chair and table and M'ran following suit, sounding a little more like herself to his relief.

"Well I didn't bring bubbly pies, but I think there are things on the tray you'll like. I'll go get a fresh pot of klah though for the whole room. It's bound to be as cold as High Reaches by now. I'll tell K'osir to expect you out in a few moments."

"That will be fine," Arai moved to the right towards an inset door in the wall, following a short passage to a nicely accommodated wash room. Cold water came out of a metal spout inserted into the wall and fell into a basin which drained out below the weyr somewhere. Arai doused her face thoroughly with water, not bothering with the supply of sweetsand, and after a moment she pulled her hair back and just dunked her head in the basin. The cold was soothing to her puffy eyes that were already bearing circles due to sleeplessness. Thanks to M'ran she could meet with the weyrleaders on a note less than hysterical though she'd hardly appear impressive this time; Arai was glad there was no looking glass, no need to prove it. After this meeting she would speak to Tari and then try to get some rest. Toweling off her face and fixing her hair as much as she could Arai made her way back down the corridor as ready as she could be under the circumstances. She wasn't expecting any miracles or progress, but she wasn't going to let them conceal information from her either. This was no longer a weyr problem, and she was going to audit every move and make them accountable for every step whether they were amenable to it or not. R'farc had been the driving factor in a gross mismanagement of her own life choices thus far and she had decided that he wasn't going to have that power anymore no matter the field.

* * *

Ampara awoke, unwillingly pulled out of a deep sleep due to a heated argument. Remembering to turn her head gingerly, she very slowly rotated her neck until she caught sight of Paifan and also S'tek. Her stomach bottomed out as she realized they were most certainly yelling about her. Ampara stilled, shutting her eyes hoping if she continued to feign sleep he would just leave.

_I know you are awake girl with the red in your hair as the others have called you._

_Stop putting your snout in where it isn't wanted._ The retort was thought at Imentauth before she had a chance to rethink her impertinence. _Technically it was thinking before speaking._ She thought, she hoped, to herself with a wince… and what others was he talking about? Other dragons? E'lir's dragon? Were they talking about her at the weyr then? Ampara hoped they were trying to figure out a way to get her out of this place, but… if R'farc was spilling everything to E'lir how were they ever going to find her to begin with? She had to be able to go _between_ that was the first thing. Paifan would help her if S'tek didn't interrupt, and if she had to she'd tunnel her way out.

"She is a patient! She is under my care and you cannot just take custody of her because of your little scheme. If she suffers a relapse it could kill her she already nearly died once because of you so I guess it's only fair that you should finish the job."

The cold fury and biting sarcasm unsettled her. Paifan angry was a force to be reckoned with; his whole face was rigid and set in harsh angles. His fists were clenched at his sides and already lanky he seemed so tense he might snap in half. Teeth became visible as the side of his mouth curled upwards in a disdainful snarl, bringing out defined lines in his face which seemed strange in a younger man. He certainly couldn't have been far into his second decade. S'tek seemed to be almost over muscled in comparison thick through the neck and torso, but it didn't help that he was bulging and red with rage. The white and grey in his hair seeming more vivid as a result.

"I am the weyrleader and as she is still a candidate and while she is unfit for duty she is certainly fit enough to be taught which can be done perfectly comfortably and with little fuss in the main halls and living areas. There are other girls that could benefit from her harper experience. Should I hold you down while I have someone else carry her out boy?"

"Do not try and treat me like a child when you know perfectly well my concerns are valid and my views should not be ignored." Paifan's words came out in a guttural manner due to the way his teeth were clenched together.

"Maybe we can come to a compromise," she offered through her own gritted teeth as she forced herself up and brought her legs off the cot to dangle above the ground.

"Ampara stop before you sharding hurt yourself. You need a sling to keep your shoulder from moving." Paifan went from angry to aghast his mouth dropping open and he moved quickly to her side before she tried to stand and fell for her foolishness.

She broke out into a sweat and the room teetered momentarily, but she was fine after a moment. At least the room was willing to settle quickly enough though Paifan's steadying hands made her feel all too vulnerable not even Valtor… "V'lor", she mentally amended, had made her feel so helpless when he and his little gang had snuck up on her that night which still felt like yesterday to her.

"You don't have to do this. He is far too used to getting his way and I'll put a stop to it if I have to plead with Obenisi until she looks at me and I mean really looks at me." Paifan turned his face to S'tek punctuating each word to emphasize he wasn't backing down on this.

"The little harper said compromise maybe we should hear what she has to say before oh so nobly come to her defense, or I can leave you on an uninhabited island to starve if you prefer." Though they had both been shouting before S'tek had gotten a hold of himself and had opted for oozing sarcasm rather than blunt force.

"Stop it." Ampara barked before either of them could say anything else her head was hurting enough without them, "I will give you my terms and if you want my cooperation you will follow them to the letter. I am a harper of Pern and I will not be disrespected or belittled. I am no one's 'little harper'."

She took a deep breath. Ampara had come this far and she'd already gotten the worse end of things, but this was her chance to have a little bit of control and she wasn't going to sit meekly by and let either of them decide. _Tari would be proud. I hope I can tell you about this, and I hope you got back safely._

"Catching people up on their writing and teaching ballads is a sedentary enough activity so I will oblige in that respect and it will be the standard curriculum as I learned it. Any other boring topic you choose to drill them on is your own prerogative." Ampara winced as she tried to slide forward off the table but Paifan restrained her, fearing her legs would buckle underneath her.

"Secondly, you will not interfere in the journeyman healer's attempts to make me better, including keeping your rotten spy away from me since it was your stupid hatching that exposed me to that beastly little green in the first place and since without you I wouldn't be here to have this injury." The irritation leaked out of her despite her best attempts to bottle up the resentment. She wanted to enact more petty, childish revenge whether it was spitting or clawing faces, but once she was mobile they'd find out soon enough.

"This includes marooning the journeyman healer elsewhere, and lastly..." Ampara roughly shoved Paifan away from her with her good arm, causing him to back pedal and lightly hit the wall while she pressed her luck and slid off the table.

For a moment she wavered and her body, shaking like a leaf, threatened to collapse in on her person, but she steadied, leaning on the table and keeping it together, "Lastly, no one is carrying me anywhere and if you ever hit me again and I swear by Faranth's first egg it will be the last thing you ever do dragonman and the same for E'lir," she stared S'tek down her eyes boring into him while he listened and considered, and despite the fact she'd pushed him away Paifan came to her physical support once again.

After a few moments S'tek chuckled starting soft and low, but it developed into laughter.

_How dare he…_ Every muscle in her body tensed and that made the pain in her arm twang all down her right side even as she clenched her fists and grit her teeth against it, and it took all of her willpower not to launch herself at him for all of the futility of the action. Her chest seized up and she could feel the beginnings of tears, and she begged her body not to betray her any further with needless crying. Ampara could accept that her options were limited, but she couldn't forgive herself if she broke down playing this one card she had to use no matter how little it was.

"It would be a most unreasonable man to not grant this extremely reasonable proposal," S'tek said after his laughter passed and she couldn't tell whether he was mocking her or being serious, "I think the harper has the right of it. The lessons for the girls will be conducted in my living quarters under my supervision where there are plenty of couches and rugs for all, and all other business can be conducted in the warmth and space of our meager dining cavern then you can retire with the girls to slumber and the journeyman can pester you as much as he likes inbetween. Fair is fair?"

Her eyes slid to Paifan who was still just as tense as before as he scrutinized S'tek, and Ampara glanced back thinking he was being far too amenable even if she was essentially giving him what he desired. She didn't like it, but then again she didn't like anything about this situation; everywhere she turned she found dissatisfaction.

"I will allow it if you give her two further days with me." Two days out of the planned sevenday he'd hoped for was disappointing, but with free reign except for lessons he hoped to proceed according to schedule. The wound would be fully knit up soon, but he could always try and keep S'tek thinking Ampara was more fragile than she was if he needed to if she would follow along.

"Two days. She'll be shifted to her new quarters the day after tomorrow in the evening, and she should join us all for dinner. We'll toast to your health." He smiled and left without further words or any cajoling required, and Ampara's heart sank feeling like she'd lost somehow anyway.

Without words Paifan lifted her back onto the cot, much to Ampara's surprise as he didn't seem quite that sturdy at first glance.

"Next time I ask you not to do something please listen you could set yourself back." He said and made to retreat into his office.

Her eyes followed him for a moment and before he disappeared behind the fur she spoke up, "Paifan I won't disregard you when it comes to this stupid, stupid injury, but don't be cross with me for handling my life; it's my life to handle now."

He sighed and shrugged a little of the tension out of his shoulders, turning around, "I'm not mad at you," he leaned against the door frame, rubbing his forehead, "I'm mad because I don't know how to win, and while this may count as a victory it was too easy. Promise me you'll be careful?"

Ampara finally smiled, "I'm usually about as subtle as a watchwher is pretty, but I could try good behavior, considering this is the heftiest detention I've ever earned."

Paifan's face cracked into a smile and he laughed, sobering after a moment, "In all seriousness," his voice became soft, "I'd rely on that tact you harpers are known for."

"Tact," she let the word roll over her tongue, "I think I'm more interested in tactics. Now I'll rest and then food and then we have work to do."

"No kidding."

Ampara hoped putting her faith in Paifan wasn't a mistake. He was the best ally she could hope for under the circumstances, but if push came to shove would he stand by her always? _How do I plan for a contingency when I barely know what to do in the first place?_ She'd been running on instinct, but she wasn't sure that would continue to serve. As long as there were no eggs she was safe, but how long would that last especially when time was fluid. E'lir just had to bide his time in the present and then they could leave to get eggs whenever they wished. She took a deep breath, one step at a time; she'd just have to learn the rules and then she'd play the game.

* * *

The meeting room was by no means filled. Iuliana and her two junior weyrwoman dominated one end of the table with R'farc, K'osir, and M'ran filling out the rest of the party as weyrleader, wingleader, and a serving weyr harper respectively. R'farc wouldn't look her in the eye and kept his eyes squarely on K'osir as he went through what they knew.

"S'tek took Obenisi and some riders joined him and we thought that maybe they returned to their own time to quietly live out the interval. Until the eggs went missing we had your brother discreetly checking records all over to see if he could find anything to confirm that he returned and lived out his life. We sent a pair of riders back to look for them, but with no luck as to their whereabouts. When the eggs were stolen we turned to actively searching for his exact location. It was thought possible he could have been on some of the outlying islands, especially the southern ones as they're more than hospitable," K'osir passed down a map for Arai to look over.

"The ones marked we searched and we orchestrated things so Tumparan was quietly going between times to search so he could remain in two places at once, but we haven't found a trace. We've found records suggesting that S'tek could be getting supplies to take somewhere in the past as there have been discrepancies in respects of requests between different weyrs and craft halls, but it's spread out so he was smart about it not to raise suspicion at the time. With no thread to worry about he could literally be anywhere. Tumparan isn't here because he's doubling his efforts even ranging northward in case he realized the south would be far too obvious." He paused as Arai's eyes lingered over the map of Pern.

"Is there anyone left that S'tek would trust if he or she wanted to get in touch? If they went back in time and could leave a message for him at some when we know they have been at the craft halls?" The master harper looked up from the map, studying the faces of those she had posed the question to.

"All of us were devastated about Obenisi, it stirred up a lot of bad feelings," one of the junior weyrwomen piped up; Phyrain was her name, and while Iuliana had just over twenty-turns Phyrain had reached her thirty-second not even six months ago.

Her blue-gray eyes seemed shrewd and her coal dark hair was piled up on her head in a way that was both fashionable but lent her face some extra austerity. She was dressed for riding her queen due to be the next on the sands but not yet egg heavy enough to prevent her from flying and carrying out queen's wing duties.

Iuliana leveled a glare at her, but Phyrain went on while pointedly not looking at the weyrwoman, "Sirith clutched my Eiruth and many of the dragons in this weyr, and while you'd be hard pressed to find anyone on S'tek's level I've long said E'lir should have gone with them the way he acts most times."

"Phyrain enough, we're not here to offer riders up for needless persecution." The other junior weyrwoman, Vedosia, snapped before Iuliana could jump in and do it herself.

Both of their glares were burning into Phyrain, who seemed to care little, but Vedosia kept glancing at the weyrwoman. She was certainly the youngest at nineteen turns, but had impressed at fifteen (nearly sixteen as was the actual case) so her queen was of clutching age by the time they came forward; however, her dragon Bruineth had yet to take her first flight. Vedosia's hair was the color of honey and fell in waves around her face. Her attire like Iuliana's was more suited to the indoors and their station, and finely dressed she looked the part of a junior weyrwoman; however, her youth and inexperience was crippling her judgement. So many queens had been a boon to the weyr, but without Obenisi Arai could see it was two against one.

"I'm not going to sit here and lie to this woman while the two of you try to poorly mitigate the circumstances. If you want to further play the fool R'farc because he's in your wing then that is your own business, but the only way someone gets away with a theft like that is to be inside the weyr. It's going to be Eiruth's hatchlings on the line this time and if there is a queen? S'tek is sick with the memories of Obenisi, he's not going to stop now."

Iuliana exploded in anger, "Stop it Phyrain. It's bad enough you must second guess me in front of everyone in the weyr. Must you do it with people outside the weyr too? We have no proof E'lir has done anything wrong and he's been extremely supportive of R'farc this entire time, and just because we haven't received any communication doesn't mean he is going to try it again."

The weyrwoman's hazel eyes were full of ill concealed hostility for the older yet "junior" gold rider, and Arai could see that the rumors concerning the weyrleadership were hitting the mark. Iuliana was even more carefully coifed than Vedosia to look the role with not one dark brown strand of hair out of place, but her experience was lacking. Phyrain's guidance was dismissed thought to be insults or slights against her leadership capabilities at best so Arai surmised.

"If Xeniath would just demand the truth from Dorminth or if you would allow my Eiruth to press him we could put this to rest and know once and for all."

"Ladies." Arai used her mug to bang on the table to call them to silence.

"M'ran, K'osir, you must tell Master Arai what you've told us so she understands what is at stake here," Phyrain said, pinching the bridge of her nose, shaking her head.

"No, I forbid it! R'farc tell them they are wrong." Iuliana turned to her weyrmate, but found him staring at the floor. She turned to Arai her chin jutting out which reminded her of Ampara at her most petulant and she rose from her seat.

"Fine as none of you see fit to follow my command I'll be in my weyr." Iuliana marched out; R'farc looked surprised but he stayed put perhaps because K'osir and M'ran were already about to burst and he had already been the target of everyone's ire once today. Vedosia's mouth went agape and she seemed ready to rise and follow the weyrwoman before Phyrain barked, "Sit," and she slumped in her chair looking sheepish and cowed.

The master harper watched her go without any sadness; the girl was stubborn in all of the wrong ways and too busy fearing she was going to be undermined to truly lead. It was a pity, but it couldn't be helped at the moment.

"Tell me what M'ran?" Weren't things already dire enough without more bad news?

He cleared his throat, looking a little nervous to be the center of attention, "About Ampara and the others… Well, he took them as candidates. The thing is we would have expected him to return anyone who hasn't impressed. K'osir thought it was because the so called candidates would be able to lead us straight to them, but it's well within their power to move if they like. The other thing about Ampara is… well… why take girls for fighting dragons? Not that it isn't good to have variety as greens will gladly take to girls or boys."

"M'ran, cut to the chase." K'osir broke in with a sympathetic look to Arai who was bearing things exceedingly patiently including Iuliana's outburst all things considered.

"Gigith, my dragon, she often goes on search. She has a better than good talent for it," and for a moment his voice swelled a little with pride, "and well when she first saw Ampara without either of us knowing who she was, well, Gigith was interested. T'ror a blue rider also searches he was there when we came to ferry the harpers to the gather he was there and his dragon Fideath agreed in his way with Gigith. E'lir also searches so Dorminth was also consulted. The three of them together are nine times out of ten the safest bet a dragonrider can make on hatching day. The truth, and Phyrain and K'osir agree, is that we think S'tek means to hold onto Ampara as a viable candidate for a queen. If Xeniath or Eiruth or Bruineth lays a gold egg he means to steal it and I think he'll try and put Ampara on it which is why we want Eiruth to demand the truth from Dorminth." He looked at Arai not sure what to expect.

Arai seemed to have turned momentarily to stone and stunned into complete silence. Her mind was trying to imagine it, but all she could think was that putting Ampara on a gold dragon was a reckless plan. She knew her daughter better than anyone even if it was through relentless fighting and confrontation, and of course that was the heart of the problem. If Ampara didn't listen to Arai what would S'tek do when he found out he wouldn't be obeyed? Worse, what if Ampara did manage to impress and thought to go between times herself without proper training and was lost forever; that and another thousand terrible scenarios raced across her mind. Arai felt sick again.

"If E'lir suspects and flees before we can question Dorminth we'll have known the truth, but lost our connection." Phyrain said, and Arai winced. She wished Tumparan was there. He was the one with all of the clever schemes; that's where Ampara got it from she was sure.

_Got it from… they get the eggs from here. They want a queen egg from here._

"If there is a queen egg they'll have to come here." Arai said, and everyone stared at her Phyrain looked confused and Vedosia mildly concerned while the corner of M'ran's mouth quirked upwards as their eyes met.

"We give them what they want," M'ran said quietly and Phyrain gasped.

"You can't just offer up Eiruth's eggs as if this was some common barter."

K'osir looked concerned for both Arai and M'ran, but then understanding dawned across his face after a moment.

"We guarantee there is an egg. If there is a real queen Eiruth hides it in favor of a decoy and if there is none there is just the decoy. We spread the word and they will come and then Xeniath, Bruineth, and Eiruth wait until they try and commit the theft and force them to stay and tell us where they are all hiding. The queens hold them while we take their riders into custody and then go on a rescue expedition."

However, the bronze rider frowned; it was risky and Phyrain was in agreement.

"This could go poorly. We would have a minute or two at most before they realize they're being played, and I'm going to have trouble convincing Eiruth. Besides if it is E'lir and he finds out the plan is a bust before it's even reached fruition." Phyrain's gaze slid to the very silent and preoccupied R'farc.

He started under her baleful eyes, "I wouldn't tell anyone," he muttered his face coloring.

Vedosia rolled her eyes whatever favor she tried to curry with Iuliana apparently didn't extend to her weyrmate.

"It might be our best chance. That way we surely have the culprit or even more than one of them and they will have definitely planned a return route to the past. In the meantime we can keep an eye on E'lir and work on other plans, maybe my brother will find something to go on. Can I trust you," Arai nodded to Phyrain, "M'ran, and K'osir to plan for a decoy egg?"

"You have our cooperation," Phyrain ceded. Despite her misgivings as she didn't have a better plan.

"You two," R'farc and Vedosia snapped to attention as Phyrain addressed them, "Keep this information strictly to yourselves or I'll have the both of you doing drudge work until you're gray, understood?" They nodded meekly.

"Not a word to Iuliana," K'osir added, "As far as she's concerned this meeting didn't come to any answers or agreements. R'farc just tell her what she wants to hear."

Arai sighed. It was a plan. It wasn't the best plan, but it was better to have a tenuous connection to Ampara than no connection at all, "Meeting adjourned."


End file.
